The "A Friend Who Was A Hero To Many!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Leafing through the morning paper when I came to the obituary page and began scanning the page to see if I might know anyone who may have recently died.  The older I get, the more I have come to the realization that dying is going to eventually be a part of my life in the next ten to twenty years.   Very rarely do I get through a week of newspapers that I don't find at least one of my friends or acqaintances has passed away.  Some have been former teachers who I worked with at Manheim Township School District, some have been friends from St. James Church, some have been friends from my youth or classmates from high school while a few others have been relatives.  Many have been older than me, but there have recently been a few who were younger than myself.  Some have been residents of retirement homes while others were living by themselves in their own home.  Some have been women while others have been men.  All are hard to accept, because I fear that I am getting closer to the end than the beginning.  Then I think...so is everyone else...and I feel better, until I look at the newspaper the next day.  Maybe I should cancel the paper!  But, then if someone asks me...did you see that so and so had died a few days ago, I would feel bad that I missed reading about or seeing them one last time.  All my friends are important to me, but some of my friends are important to many others also.  

Allan Holm

And, yesterday when I opened the newspaper and saw this gentleman smiling back at me, I knew him instantly.  Allan K. Holm was a friend from the past that I hadn't seen for perhaps  a dozen years.  But, I did know him quite well at one time and considered him a good friend.  He was a professional photographer whom I got to know when I had his daughter as the editor-in-chief of the high school yearbook which I was the advisor to for just about my entire high school teaching career. Allan would invite my photography classes to visit his studio so he could tell them about careers in the field of photography.  The students really enjoyed his upbeat personality and his attitude toward his work.  A few of those students are now professional photographers and perhaps they are what they are because of Allan Holm.  But, Allan was never one to brag about his skill as a photographer or his accomplishments in the field of photography.  That is why when I read his obituary this morning I was astonished with what I read.  Allan proudly served in the U.S. Army as a U.S. Army combat photographer serving in Vietnam.  His military photography has been prominently featured on the covers of National Geographic Magazine and Life Magazine.  I never knew that!  He was one of only two active duty Army combat photographers to receive the Life cover distinction.  Wow, I never knew that either!!  I wondered what I would learn next about my friend.  Allan's work has been featured on American Greetings cards and in national magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and Brides Magazine among others.  Now, some of that I did know, but not all of it.  How could a person whom I thought I knew, never tell me all this information?  Well, Allan is that type of friend.  He cares more about you than himself.  One time I got to talking to Allan about going to have a biopsy to see if I might have prostate cancer.  It was then that he shared with me the fact that he was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and had beaten it.  He told me to learn the warning signs of beast cancer as well as prostate cancer, since it's just not women that get breast cancer.  From that point on I was always aware of the signs of breast cancer.  I later found out that Allan would speak about male breast cancer to groups.  Here's a famous war photographer who was willing to share his knowledge of breast cancer with people.  A true hero to many, I'm sure.  He certainly is to me.  His family is filled with sorrow right now, but they have the memories of someone as caring as Allan to reflect upon.  They are so lucky!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.