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Friday Slide Show: Roosevelt
4 June 2021
We can still recall what it felt like to read a chapter in Lives of the Saints, a book we'd received as a gift in our youth. Later that was followed by Profiles in Courage and still later by Plutarch's Lives and Vasari's Lives of the Artists. Each of these celebrated the lives of some exemplary people as a lesson for young minds.
The other day, though, we came across quite a different story. It was written in messages and notes and flowers and small gifts mounted on a palette that was stood on end on a sidewalk of the village down the hill. It announced some news.
Roosevelt had died.
He was a large man who sat on the brick bench bordering the only public parking lot in the village. On the weekends he would sell the Sunday paper while he played classical music on a boom box.
On any day he would greet whoever walked by with a compliment. He'd tell Joyce what a pretty skirt she had on. He'd admire whatever camera I had slung over my shoulder.
At lunch time, he'd get a slice of pizza and a soft drink from Goat Hill Pizza next to the parking lot. It was the only interruption from his task of making people feel better.
When news of his death passed through the village, 245 people commented on the neighborhood feed. Here's a bit of what they said:
- Oh no, my heart is broken. He was a great guy and always friendly to us and the kids. Had the biggest, heartfelt laughs and the sun always shined in his eyes. May Roosevelt Rest In Peace -- we will all miss him.
- I've enjoyed knowing Roosevelt for close to 20 years. He will be missed.
- Roosevelt was not homeless but spent his days into early evening along West Portal Avenue. He talked with everyone. He did a bit of panhandling. He'd buy occasional cigarettes for teens. But he was straightforward and always had a smiling face. He was in a way the patron saint of a safe and clean West Portal and I always felt my growing teens were safer when he was around in the evenings. He'd been sick for quite a while, absent more frequently for longer stretches, but always came back with a smile, willing to talk about his treatments if you asked, always courteous, always kind. I am so sorry I missed his last visit to West Portal.
- This is very sad. He and I both were just celebrating being fully-vaccinated a few weeks ago. West Portal Ave is going to seem empty without his friendliness and cool music blasting.
- Heartbreaking. He was such a kind soul.
- I know he had lung cancer and every time I would give him a buck or two, I'd say, don't use this money for smokes, but every time I saw him he had a cigarette in his hand! He was a gentleman and someone who tried to make the best of his situation -- very sad!
- My kids have grown up with joyful greetings from him as we passed in their strollers and they are teenagers now. We will miss him and may he Rest In Peace!
There have always been neighborhood characters in the city, of course. We still fondly remember Annie on New Montgomery St. who would carry on a conversation with God on the powder blue handset of a Princess phone whose cord was no longer attached to the base. When someone gave her some coins, she would say, "God bless." And you felt like she was simply relaying a message.
There will always be someone on the margins who scratches by. There is the big guy from Texas who puts coins in parking meters for people who shop too long at the market. Or the little guy with the shopping cart full of bedding who limps up and down the sidewalk asking for a dollar.
They know who talks to them and who doesn't, who has given them a dollar and who hasn't, who bought them something to eat, who asked them how they're doing.
Sometimes we think, with a chuckle, they are missing from the Lives of the Artists and other times, with a tear, we suspect Lives of the Saints.
One of them now, we know, is among the angels. God bless.
