It is with a very heavy heart that I share with you some difficult news. My dear friend and one of W/NP's most supportive and dedicated volunteers, Henry Gillis, passed away as a result of a tragic accident.
Henry owned and maintained several rental properties around Stevens Point. He was found on the ground at the one where he was working. He must have been up on the roof, but we'll never know exactly what happened.
Henry was a worker, right up until his death, which is how he would have wanted it. I'll miss him terribly, though. He owned the house next door to mine which held the "Inner Sanctum," his name for the basement where he kept all of his tools and miscellaneous items; it's packed full! It was here that he kept all of the things that he needed to
maintain his properties and fiddle with projects in need of a second life, as my dad would say. There were few things that he couldn't fix.
He was at his property next door often, so for the past eleven years we had almost daily conversations about many things, from raising children to life in Nicaragua and everything in between. Two or three years ago, while we were talking, I half-jokingly said that he should come with me to Nicaragua, not really thinking that he would. As many of you know, he's since been on two Learning Centers Missions and has been our best volunteer and supporter ever! His wife told me that the night before his death, he had recruited a family member of his to come with him to Nicaragua in September to work on rewiring the electricity in the Managua office. He was really "gung ho" on getting that done as soon as possible; he would come to the office every couple of days to see what was happening. We were just waiting for Robert Groh, a friend of his, to get back from Nicaragua so that we could complete our plan of action.
Two weeks prior to that, we had a workday to prepare donations of humanitarian goods for a shipment to Nicaragua. We were five minutes into our day when the forklift got a flat tire. Henry went in search of a new one. With no luck in Stevens Point, he went chasing to Wisconsin Rapids, found one, brought it back, helped get the forklift going, and stayed another six or eight hours to work! He was just incredible! My father commented during the day that we needed to sing "for he's a jolly good fellow" to Henry before he left, but he slipped away without bringing attention to himself – which, looking back, he did quite often.
The Portage County Cultural Festival took place in April, and Henry helped me by preparing and hauling materials from the office, setting up the displays, staying the whole day to work, and hauling everything back to the office. It was on a Saturday, and looking back, it was quite remarkable for a working type of man to spend his whole day inside talking to people at a booth. I can't imagine that it was something that he really wanted to do, but he believed in the cause. On the Learning Centers Missions to
Nicaragua, Henry hardly took anything in terms of personal items or clothing as almost all of his checked baggage included items for the Learning Centers, the people of Nicaragua, and the lending libraries, to name a few.
Henry also provided the financial support for Moisés, a Managua staff member, to make his first trip to Wisconsin, and the United States. He even took Moisés down to the "Inner Sanctum," where very few people are allowed to go. Henry understood the value of and need for education and offered to pay tuition for two Nicaraguans if they wanted to continue their studies. On the Tuesday before his death, he stopped over with a donation for W/NP. With his real estate background, he was involved in the process of making an offer on property near the office in Managua. I remembered that there was a little coffee left in the pot so I asked him if he'd like to come in for a cup. I was running late for work, but I said that if I didn't have time for a cup of coffee with him then there was something wrong in my life. We chatted for a few minutes, I gave him his usual bear hug, and I went off to start my day. He didn't come to the office during the rest of the week as I guess he was busy working at his properties.
Henry was frugal; he worked hard for his money and did not spend it foolishly. He put it where he knew it would make a difference. At 81 years of age, he still worked all day, every day. In the short two years that he was involved with W/NP, Henry made a significant difference using the many creative, innovative talents and skills that he had. Like many of us, I'm sure that he had no idea that his efforts would impact people deep into Central America.
Henry will be greatly missed. Without his expertise and counsel in so many areas, I really don't know how I will continue the work in Nicaragua . At the same time, however, I never thought that I would hang by a clip 100 feet above a volcano forest, but thanks to Henry, I did and survived. I'll continue somehow, some way, for you, Henry.
Thanks for sharing a moment in time with Henry. You know as well as I do that Christians think of death as an entrance into a new life. While we admit to and feel our sorrow, we can also thank God for Henry's passage into that life. May he pray for us!
Love,
Amy
