In loving memory of Norman Harold Wells

Norman Harold Wells, born 19 March 1925, was many things. A teacher, a Sociologist, an adventurer, a naval coder on a minesweeping Corvette during World War II, a storyteller in the best sense of the word, a Father, and a Husband.

Not the least of which, he was my hero and my friend, and it was the saddest day of my life when he passed away, on 22 December 2008.

If I owe my curiousity about the world and why we believe what we believe, to any one person, I owe it to my Father. He was tirelessly interested in the largest questions any of us can face.

More than that, Norman Wells was a kind, gentle, compassionate man, who in my living memory never failed to speak of the best he saw in the people around him.

Through all of the stories my Father told me in the 40 years I was privileged to spend with him, I gathered two simple, powerful messages [1].

I would like to pass these messages onto you, and I ask that you think about them when life seems dark and full of woe.

Be kind to yourself.

Be kind to others too.

I hope you take these words away with you as a compelling way to lead a decent, compassionate life; not only to those around you, but to a person who should matter to you as well: you.

I love you Dad. I miss you. I will try to be kind to myself. I will be kind to others too.

Murray Wells,

Son of Norman Harold Wells

Footnotes:

1.	There was so much more to be found in these stories, but these were the common themes that ran through them all.
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