Time
flies.
It
flies when we realize that all of a sudden our children are adults. It flies when that long-awaited vacation is
suddenly over.
It
flies when we look in that proverbial rear-view mirror and say “has it really
been that long since?”
The past three weeks have flown by.
It’s hard for me to believe that just three weeks ago I was on the way to
Indianapolis and took a quick break near Frankfort, Indiana – where ever that
is.
It was supposed to be the usual
stop, stretch, fill up and not to mention a quick check of email, Twitter and
Facebook.
The keyword here is supposed. It was anything but a routine
check. A post from a friend read: “It was a shock to learn this morning
that a dear friend suddenly and unexpectedly passed away last night. He was
beyond a doubt the most kind, gentle, decent and generous soul it has been my
privilege to have known. I am certain the world is a darker place today because
it has lost such an extraordinary person….”
Without
evening mentioning the name, I suspected the worse and sent a text to another
friend that simply read “Please don’t tell me this is about Bill Brimm.” By now, you probably know what the
unfortunate confirmation was.
 |
| Bill Brimm |
Yes,
time flies. It’s been over three weeks since Bill, who served the Village of
Buffalo Grove for 32 years, passed away and the time has flown by so quickly that
I haven’t had a chance to share some thoughts about Bill. Was it a busy schedule? Holiday preparation? Or just a lack of not
knowing what to say? Maybe it was a
combination.
The
bottom line is time flew and before long I realized it was three weeks later.
There’s
not much to add that hasn’t been covered in area media or said by those who
knew Bill well.
Trustee Jeff Berman summed it up in
remarks at the start of the Nov. 14 budget meeting. Berman called Bill the
“glue that held the village together.”
Berman
reaffirmed what a lot of people knew.
“We lost an extraordinary person. He will be missed… he made an
incredible difference.”
We hear praise like that after
someone who dedicated his career to public service dies. It almost seems like
the obligatory thing to say or write.
However, when it comes to Bill, it
wasn’t obligatory, it was the natural thing to say.
I’ve covered and worked with
numerous village managers during my 40-plus year career. Was Bill Brimm the “best”? It’s hard to quantify what make someone “the
best” at running a village.
He was, however, one of the
genuinely “good guys”, both in and out of the office. We connected on Facebook
and my guess is that nearly 99 percent of our exchanges focused on Bill’s
passion.
The interactions were not about taxes,
traffic, budgets or Lake Michigan water.
They were about a passion we shared
– The Cubs. It’s little solace, but Bill was able to celebrate the Cubs winning
the World Series.
But there’s a tarnish on the
celebration now. Talking about the Cubs on Facebook just isn’t the same without
being able to chat with Bill.
Time flies, but memories don’t fly
away. Especially when the good guys die too soon.
Bill Brimm was one of the good guys.
Coverage about Bill
Brimm can be found at:
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