Thanks To This Good Man – I Know This Great Woman

Friday I traveled to the small town of Weatherford, Texas to attend the funeral services of William Lloyd Burton Jr.. To my knowledge I never met Mr. Burton who was a school teacher having invested forty years in classrooms in Oklahoma, Kansas and finally Brock, Texas.

His students called him “Mr. B” and you could find him teaching English in the classroom or in any realm of responsibilities on the sports fields and in gymnasiums. He loved education and sports, but most of all his students and family. The crowd gathered at the First Baptist Church to pay their respects spoke of his legacy.

In a small Texas town you could say that Mr. B was ahead of his time on many issues, perhaps none more prominent than his belief in the value and voice of women. And that’s where our paths crossed via his daughter and my good friend, Harriet Bohanan.

When I first met Harriet in 1999 in Norman, OK I was drawn to her confidence and many competencies, but most of all her spirit and unbelievable compassion for people. Harriet was a gift to me and many others. Now technically on the org chart Harriet worked for me, but I and everyone else knew the truth!

Thrown together in a work environment by chance, the Bohanan family (Harriet, Zac, Kyle, Alex and partner Mark) have become family to us. Eighteen years later and counting, we have shared the ups and downs of life together. It was my turn Friday to be at the Bohanan family’s side at their loss. Three months earlier Harriet played a similar role at the passing of my dad. Also Harriet and I have together shared the presiding and comforting of families at many funerals in times past.

Friday, Harriet presented one of the best, most inspiring, humorous, and insightful eulogies I have ever heard in honor of her dad. To know Harriet is to know her dad. A veracious learner, a stickler for details, an unmatched baseball and all around sports fan, a thought leader, a loyal friend, and most of all a lover of people.

As I listened to Harriet, I was given a window into a man who was before his time and who told his daughter and showed his daughter and inspired his daughter that she could be anything she wanted to be, as long as she worked for it. And she has!

Thanks Mr. B for your life and legacy – and our friend Harriet. You did good!

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