By Deacon Dick Kostner
This afternoon,
we celebrate the life of a true mentor of the power of love. Our Gospel tells all of the disciples of Jesus that there are rooms that have been reserved for those who have lived out their lives obeying the 11th Commandment that Jesus gave us before he returned to heaven, and that is to love God and our neighbor as Jesus has loved and instructed us. If done, he promises to return to those who have obeyed and take us to our reserved room at the Father’s house.
At one of the TMIY (“That Man Is You”) classes I attended this last year, one of the speakers quoted a homily that Pope John Paul gave to us Christians and within that homily the pope stated that there is only one key that will allow us entry into heaven and that is the key of love. Only those who love God and neighbor will gain entry. During my seventy-plus years on earth, I have been blessed with a list of mentors that have displayed to me the power and happiness that becomes those who have loved as Jesus has loved us. My mom and dad, my wife and son, my priest friends and instructors, and the people of this city and faith community called “The Body of Christ.” Two of them who were instrumental in gifting our community with a hospital we could be proud of and whom I served with as a member of the Board of Directors for some twenty-three years. Those individuals were John Eberle, and the person we honor today, Don Nielsen.
I first came onboard on the hospital board a couple of years after I got out of law school. These two mentors helped me to mature in my youth to recognize the importance of sharing our gift of time to help bring about and keep available for our people a facility that really cared about healing and providing a comfort zone for those of us that needed repair services for our sick and sometimes broken bodies. Don was always one of the first to offer his advice and wisdom to keep our hospital available to our friends and families. There were some tough times we had to make difficult decisions in order to have a medical team supplied to our hospital when the demand for them exceeded the supply. It was out of love that we needed to team up with Luther Hospital and thereafter with Mayo in order to have doctors for our hospital. One of Don’s favorite sayings was that “When life serves us a lemon, we need to use it to make lemonade.” It was through these disciples of love that we still have our hospital. Don’s love for people did not stop with the local hospital but was present when dealing with his car dealership and support for the Bloomer Chamber events and sharing his knowledge and active involvement with financial support for the community business activities and church faith activities.
About a year ago, Don cornered me and said he was concerned that Mayo was helping other hospitals stay up to date but that Bloomer was being forgotten. He questioned our local doctors for their help. It was just last week that I was told that there are plans being made by Mayo to renovate our Hospital and even build some more beds to accommodate more people at our hospital. The demand is great for our hospital to grow and provide more beds and services for neighbors, friends, and families. Before I heard this news Barb and I stopped to visit Don and Phyllis asked Don if he had any words of wisdom to share with us. His response was “Don’t put off until tomorrow what needs to be done now in our life because you never know when you won’t be able to help or enjoy life anymore.” Don died before I could share with him the good news about our hospital, but I bet he and Doctor Eberle are having a cold one together now with Jesus with grins on their face for having loved as Jesus has loved and served us.
Thanks guys for your love, help, and community service. Hope to see you soon! Signed: The Community of Bloomer.
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