Nelly Smyser De Leon
A wonderful human being and friend.
I met Eric in 1986 right out of college, first corporate job at Sperry Corporation. The company hired 36 top notch sales force and sent us to Princeton, New Jersey for our education training. We all became good friends. I am an extrovert and was always networking, planning trips and meeting people and Eric was the opposite but always had a loveable sense of humor, kinda corky and he always talked about his family and his German culture. I taught him Spanish and he taught me German, high German, as our Sperry Germany Corporate office would say to me. Well he did well in Spanish and I sucked at German,lol!
Years past, I got married and Eric met Bill. Eric was still looking for his soul partner. Every year, for Christmas, I always received a Christmas card from him where he shared his story with me. For over 20 years! Eric found his true love. I was happy for him. We lost track of each other until in 2022, around February, I search for Eric and reached out to him.
I said a couple of words in German, and he replied back. I knew he probably was thinking this person can’t speak German! Politely, he carried on the conversation and finally he knew who I was. He told me about Sarah, his children, his job, and that he had terminal cancer. It was a matter of time now. We talked for a while and I told him that I cherished our friendship and that I found out that my grandfather’s last name was Brau ( with the two dots over the u, which meant I was a bit German. We laughed and I WANTED TO CRY, but didn’t until I hung up. My heart was hurting.
Eric, being Eric, sent me a card with his typical long letter and a picture of his family. This was the last conversation I had with him. My heart is broken because I’ve called several times and it rings, I leave messages and no return calls. I think, he is gone now and if so, I am so happy to have had him part of my life and that We talked. May God have him in his kingdom because he was a wonderful human being.
Years past, I got married and Eric met Bill. Eric was still looking for his soul partner. Every year, for Christmas, I always received a Christmas card from him where he shared his story with me. For over 20 years! Eric found his true love. I was happy for him. We lost track of each other until in 2022, around February, I search for Eric and reached out to him.
I said a couple of words in German, and he replied back. I knew he probably was thinking this person can’t speak German! Politely, he carried on the conversation and finally he knew who I was. He told me about Sarah, his children, his job, and that he had terminal cancer. It was a matter of time now. We talked for a while and I told him that I cherished our friendship and that I found out that my grandfather’s last name was Brau ( with the two dots over the u, which meant I was a bit German. We laughed and I WANTED TO CRY, but didn’t until I hung up. My heart was hurting.
Eric, being Eric, sent me a card with his typical long letter and a picture of his family. This was the last conversation I had with him. My heart is broken because I’ve called several times and it rings, I leave messages and no return calls. I think, he is gone now and if so, I am so happy to have had him part of my life and that We talked. May God have him in his kingdom because he was a wonderful human being.
