G
Guest
Guest
This just sucks.
I guess it was around 1980 or so, and I was still hunting on a farm across from where he lived. I had to leave before shooting time had expired that day, and as I was exiting the property I saw a small buck run out of the last field.
On my way out, I bumped into a young man who was heading in to begin his hunt for the evening.
I told him, "If you'll go and stand on the edge of that field, with good cover to your back and be still, a buck will come out and you'll get a shot.
He looked puzzled and I said, "Just give it a try, and see what happens."
As I reached my vehicle, a few hundred yards later, I heard him shoot. He had followed my advice.
A couple of days later I was back on the property and we bumped into each other again. He said, "I got that buck!" "How did you know he was going to come out in that spot?"
I smiled and said, "Experience." He thanked me and we parted ways.
I never told him that I knew his father, the Assistant Principal at the high school, a man I greatly respected.
It was several years later that I ran into him again. This time he had a huge buck on the tailgate of his own truck at a country store near his home, where he was registering the kill.
I stopped and congratulated him, and he recognized me.
He said, "That deer you put me on a few years ago was my first buck."
I shook his hand and congratulated him on being an accomplished hunter. He thanked me again.
I've seen his picture several times since then in the paper or online with trophy bucks, and always fondly recalled that first encounter.
What a shame. he was a good young man and a good grown man.
[h=1]Life and legacy of local son killed by drunk driver memorialized
Family and friends of Dr. John Allen Best Jr., 51, simultaneously mourn the passing of a beloved, powerful presence in the lives of all who knew and loved him and celebrate the life and legacy of a former Mecklenburg County resident and Park View High School graduate whose love for God, life and others will continue to shape the lives of those he touched during his lifetime.
Best died as a result of injuries sustained in a Feb. 4 Sampson County, N.C., motor vehicle crash wherein, according to published reports, one individual faces a charge of driving under the influence in connection with the crash that claimed Best’s life. The vehicle driven by the motorist in question struck Best’s automobile during the early morning hours of Feb. 4.
Offerings of love and support for the Best family poured into social media as news of Best’s passing spread throughout the local community, where Best spent the formative years of his life prior to departing for the calling of higher education and an eventual career that spanned a quarter century with the United States Department of Agriculture, where Best was bestowed numerous honors and accolades for outstanding work in Veterinary Medicine, his field of choice, for which he obtained a doctorate in 1992.
Best, whose survivors include his daughter, Eryn Jonise Best of South Hill, his father and mother, John and Edna Best, also of South Hill, and a host of family and friends that remain in the local community and who have located or relocated elsewhere. Eryn’s mother, Denise Walker, is also a resident of South Hill.
Best’s parents are well-known for their respective, stellar careers in the Mecklenburg County Public Schools education system and for their lifelong dedication to the betterment of area youths and the community-at-large.
The extremely close-knit Best family, and a myriad of extended family, including member of Best’s 1984 Park View High School graduating class, came together Thursday, Feb. 9, for a memorial service celebrating Best’s life and mourning his passing. A number of fellow Park View graduates and friends from his earlier years were among those present to bid a collective farewell to their friend and loved one, with whom many had remained in close contact through the years.
Karen Reese Meyers, a lifelong friend and former classmate, said of Best and the Best family, “‘J.B.’ was one of the sweetest people, and he got that honestly. His whole family are some of the sweetest, kindest, nicest people you will ever meet,” said Meyers. “He was always the same, no matter when or where you saw him.”
Connie Newman Edwards, also a former classmate and lifelong friend of Best, reached out to the Enterprise via Facebook late Thursday in tribute to Best. “A tribute to our dear, sweet John Best, from your songwriting classmate, that I hope may provide some comfort to all of us that knew and respected you so very much...
John, we are grieving the senseless act that took you away
But though we are saddened we also celebrate your life and pray
That now from Heaven you’ll watch over us each day
As we try to live our lives in such a way
That we will be guaranteed to see you again someday
So until then we would all like to say
We will miss you greatly, but in our hearts you’ll stay
Meyers concluded her thoughts with a summation of the memorial service held in tribute to Best.
“You want to know who John Best was and what he meant to the Class of 1984? In the middle of a workday... there were the local kids that still live here or that have moved back. But they also came from Roanoke, from Woodbridge, from Raleigh, from all around the Richmond area, from Virginia Beach...
“What do J.B. and the Best family mean to us? Two of our classmates, Kevin Crute and Barry Davis, got in the car at 3 in the morning and drove from Atlanta, Ga. to be here for his service...
“I think all of us felt this way: Our hearts are broken because of one gone too soon, but our hearts are full of love for each other and for John and the Best family.”[/h]
I guess it was around 1980 or so, and I was still hunting on a farm across from where he lived. I had to leave before shooting time had expired that day, and as I was exiting the property I saw a small buck run out of the last field.
On my way out, I bumped into a young man who was heading in to begin his hunt for the evening.
I told him, "If you'll go and stand on the edge of that field, with good cover to your back and be still, a buck will come out and you'll get a shot.
He looked puzzled and I said, "Just give it a try, and see what happens."
As I reached my vehicle, a few hundred yards later, I heard him shoot. He had followed my advice.
A couple of days later I was back on the property and we bumped into each other again. He said, "I got that buck!" "How did you know he was going to come out in that spot?"
I smiled and said, "Experience." He thanked me and we parted ways.
I never told him that I knew his father, the Assistant Principal at the high school, a man I greatly respected.
It was several years later that I ran into him again. This time he had a huge buck on the tailgate of his own truck at a country store near his home, where he was registering the kill.
I stopped and congratulated him, and he recognized me.
He said, "That deer you put me on a few years ago was my first buck."
I shook his hand and congratulated him on being an accomplished hunter. He thanked me again.
I've seen his picture several times since then in the paper or online with trophy bucks, and always fondly recalled that first encounter.
What a shame. he was a good young man and a good grown man.
[h=1]Life and legacy of local son killed by drunk driver memorialized
Family and friends of Dr. John Allen Best Jr., 51, simultaneously mourn the passing of a beloved, powerful presence in the lives of all who knew and loved him and celebrate the life and legacy of a former Mecklenburg County resident and Park View High School graduate whose love for God, life and others will continue to shape the lives of those he touched during his lifetime.
Best died as a result of injuries sustained in a Feb. 4 Sampson County, N.C., motor vehicle crash wherein, according to published reports, one individual faces a charge of driving under the influence in connection with the crash that claimed Best’s life. The vehicle driven by the motorist in question struck Best’s automobile during the early morning hours of Feb. 4.
Offerings of love and support for the Best family poured into social media as news of Best’s passing spread throughout the local community, where Best spent the formative years of his life prior to departing for the calling of higher education and an eventual career that spanned a quarter century with the United States Department of Agriculture, where Best was bestowed numerous honors and accolades for outstanding work in Veterinary Medicine, his field of choice, for which he obtained a doctorate in 1992.
Best, whose survivors include his daughter, Eryn Jonise Best of South Hill, his father and mother, John and Edna Best, also of South Hill, and a host of family and friends that remain in the local community and who have located or relocated elsewhere. Eryn’s mother, Denise Walker, is also a resident of South Hill.
Best’s parents are well-known for their respective, stellar careers in the Mecklenburg County Public Schools education system and for their lifelong dedication to the betterment of area youths and the community-at-large.
The extremely close-knit Best family, and a myriad of extended family, including member of Best’s 1984 Park View High School graduating class, came together Thursday, Feb. 9, for a memorial service celebrating Best’s life and mourning his passing. A number of fellow Park View graduates and friends from his earlier years were among those present to bid a collective farewell to their friend and loved one, with whom many had remained in close contact through the years.
Karen Reese Meyers, a lifelong friend and former classmate, said of Best and the Best family, “‘J.B.’ was one of the sweetest people, and he got that honestly. His whole family are some of the sweetest, kindest, nicest people you will ever meet,” said Meyers. “He was always the same, no matter when or where you saw him.”
Connie Newman Edwards, also a former classmate and lifelong friend of Best, reached out to the Enterprise via Facebook late Thursday in tribute to Best. “A tribute to our dear, sweet John Best, from your songwriting classmate, that I hope may provide some comfort to all of us that knew and respected you so very much...
John, we are grieving the senseless act that took you away
But though we are saddened we also celebrate your life and pray
That now from Heaven you’ll watch over us each day
As we try to live our lives in such a way
That we will be guaranteed to see you again someday
So until then we would all like to say
We will miss you greatly, but in our hearts you’ll stay
Meyers concluded her thoughts with a summation of the memorial service held in tribute to Best.
“You want to know who John Best was and what he meant to the Class of 1984? In the middle of a workday... there were the local kids that still live here or that have moved back. But they also came from Roanoke, from Woodbridge, from Raleigh, from all around the Richmond area, from Virginia Beach...
“What do J.B. and the Best family mean to us? Two of our classmates, Kevin Crute and Barry Davis, got in the car at 3 in the morning and drove from Atlanta, Ga. to be here for his service...
“I think all of us felt this way: Our hearts are broken because of one gone too soon, but our hearts are full of love for each other and for John and the Best family.”[/h]
