Mountain Man

Today's memorial is dedicated to “Mountain Man.” That is the name volunteers gave him over the past years of frequent visits. When he died alone on a hillside and anonymously over this past weekend, no one could recall him ever having shared his name. Yet rumor has it that his name may have been Charlie, but no one is certain.

He lived nearby on a steep barren embankment that descends to some railroad tracks. For the past two and one half years workers recall how he arrived disheveled, soiled and cold when breaking bread in the morning food line. The chefs said that he enjoyed a hot coffee with warm milk, a café con leche that they compassionately prepared especially for him. In the evening hours, he was often caught like a deer in headlights tearing apart the dumpsters scrounging for grub. He was then given a fresh plate of food direct from the kitchen.

One volunteer recalls that Mountain Man once said that he was an actor in Hollywood decades ago. He was also an artist. Apparently he had been alone and homeless, possibly for 10-20 years or more. Before taking leave for his final ride, just as the medics arrived he was anointed with oil and given last rites. He is no longer a pilgrim but someone who has completed his purgatory. And so today we remember a life that is as priceless as the blood that was shed for him and all the poor for heaven's sake. We remember and we pray.