Guest column: Brock: Sobering reality of the holidays

I received a call late Sunday morning from my daughter Amanda, and the fact she wanted to talk to me before her mother seemed odd.

Amanda told me our friend, Larry, had taken his life and after exchanging small talk about how much we would miss him, we talked about our concerns for his family, the son he left behind and how she had lost touch with him in recent months.

She finished our conversation with comments about how suicide seems to happen far too often around the holidays.

I handed the phone to my wife to discuss happier topics surrounding Christmas celebrations and thought about our friend.

Larry came to work for me at the Havre Daily News about 15 years ago. He was small in stature but strong, smart, worked hard and was well liked by his fellow employees. He had a great sense of humor and was the type my dad would describe as a hard-luck kid you couldn’t help but like.

Larry was an amateur boxer and had a few fights in the ring — more outside of it — and probably was not unknown by local law enforcement.

Nobody, including his friends, would ever accuse him of being a saint. But knew they could count on him if needed.

Larry and I were friends despite the fact that I fired him for being late after I had warned him several times. He later came back to work at the paper and tardiness was never again a problem.

Larry and I both left the paper about the same time for new careers and lost touch. The last time I saw him was at my daughter’s wedding. He was one of the groomsmen and it was great to see him because he added so much to the party, and spending time with Larry usually left me smiling.

I can’t help thinking how sad and accurate my daughter’s assertion was that suicide seems to happen often around the holidays.

During a time of the year when we should never feel alone, too often folks — for a million reasons — suffer depression.

Sadly, family and friends can think of an equal million things they could or should have done to prevent their loss.

I apologize for such a sobering column at this time of year, or this sounding like a eulogy.

However, I thought there may be someone else we know battling their own demons and maybe a kind word or deed might stop more heartbreak.

I can only hope and pray my friend Larry found the peace he couldn’t on Earth.

(Harvey Brock is the publisher of The Dickinson (ND) Press and a former publisher of the Harve Daily News. Email him at [email protected] and call him at 701-456-1201.)