A FRIEND CROSSES THE FINISH LINE

By: Dave Fulton

I have reached the age when numerous old friends and acquaintances have begun to reach the finish line in the race of life.  Such was the case this past Monday when I pulled up the online edition of the Wilson (NC) Times.  The obituary of a dear friend met my gaze.

I began my work career in 1970 in that wonderful eastern North Carolina town of Wilson. I was a fresh faced college graduate hired as a “Management Trainee” for Blue Bell, Inc. – the then manufacturer of Wrangler Jeans. During my ten years in Wilson I married a Wilson girl (who was living in Raleigh), added two daughters to our family, ate more than my fair share of the best barbecue on earth, and made countless lifelong friends.