For all of those who attend or attended the Des Moines, Iowa, Sioux City, Dubuque or Four Kingdoms faires in Iowa and Illinois, you should remember children's entertainer Dave Daugherty, AKA William & BlackJack. I am friends with Dave on Facebook, and just learned that his wife, "Captain" Julie Daugherty, passed away suddenly this morning at the age of 47.
Captain Julie was an important part of the William & BlackJack show, and will be greatly missed by all of those who had the pleasure of watching her perform.
William and BlackJack webpage (http://www.mydragonstories.com/index.html)
Gone From My Sight
by Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
And that is dying...
Death comes in its own time, in its own way.
Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.
~RIP Cap'n Julie~Faire winds and fyne weather.
Happy Angel Day, Captain Julie.
You are not forgotten my friend. Until we meet again.