Excerpts from today’s Chicago Sun-Times article: Goodbye to a wise, godly friend
RELIGION | Former classmate killed by roadside bomb in Iraq embodied all the qualities I like to believe God possesses

April 18, 2008

BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Columnist

For full column go to: http://www.suntimes.com/news/falsani/902260,CST-NWS-fals18.article

...On April 11, my college buddy Mark Metherell died in Iraq when the vehicle he was riding in near Sadr City struck a roadside bomb. He was killed instantly. Mark was 39, a native Southern Californian and former Navy SEAL who had been working in the private sector helping to train Iraqi forces.

A week ago, when I signed on to my Facebook account and saw that Mark’s best friend had written “I’m sad that Mark died in Iraq today” as his “update” message, I hoped it was a joke. Mark and his best friends—two guys named Dave who were his college-mates and, more recently, his neighbors in Laguna Beach, Calif.—have a wicked sense of humor.

When the other Dave sent me an e-mail saying “it’s no joke,” my heart gained 50 pounds and sank in my chest, where it remains, a painful boulder.

How was it possible that one of the most alive people I’ve ever known was gone?

Mark was a year ahead of me at Wheaton, but he stayed for a fifth year to finish a degree in literature (and biology), and we graduated together in 1992. While he wasn’t one of my best friends, he was certainly one of my favorite friends—ever.

Mark was many marvelous things. Wryly and riotously funny, he could convey more humor with one wonky eyebrow than most people can with their whole bodies. He was deeply intelligent and wonderfully wacky. An adventurous, sea-loving surfer (even in Lake Michigan), he was literate, faithful, kind.

And he was a hero to me long before he proudly served his country in the armed forces and beyond…

...My fondest memory of him, however, took place in a dive bar called Punky’s not long after we had graduated. Mark didn’t engage me in conversation very often (I didn’t think he liked me that much, actually), but he took me aside in a brotherly fashion to tell me something important.

I was about to embark on a new romance, and I don’t think he approved of the suitor. Mark said he wanted me to know he thought I too often sold myself short and that I was special. He said I deserved to be cherished by someone who would appreciate all that I am.

Years later, when I met the man who did just that, I had Mark’s words to thank for helping me recognize it.

To me, godly is the word that best describes Mark. By that, I mean he embodied all the qualities I like to believe God possesses.

Loving. Wise. Strong. Tender. Surprising. A friend who is listening and watching even when we aren’t aware of it…

...Goodbye for now, sweet face.

See you on the other side.