By Pam Pollock

If you had not have fallen
Then I would not have found you
Angel flying too close to the ground
I patched up your broken wing and hung around for a while
Trying to keep your spirits up and your fever down
So leave me if you need to, I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground.

I knew someday that you would fly away
For love's the greatest healer to be found
So leave me if you need to, I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground

Fly on fly on past, the speed of sound
I'd rather see you up than see you down
So leave me if you need to, I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground.

“Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” by Willie Nelson

I struggled with coming up with a title for this month’s column.  It is always difficult to write of someone’s death.  It is even harder when it is a close family member.  Eleven days ago my Uncle, Alan Roddy lost his battle with cancer at the age of 61 on September 12, 2012. 

Uncle Alan was only ten years older than me and he was always more of a buddy than an Uncle.  He was the older, cooler kid when I was growing up and he managed to get me and my brothers involved in some mischievous pranks, more so my brothers than me. 

Alan Roddy was a son and a father and grandfather.  He was a brother, an uncle and a cousin.  He was a friend to so many people.  He was also a Professional Truck Driver until ill health forced him off the road.  He last drove for Nelson Trucking.

 His real passion is life was music. He was happiest when he had a guitar in his hand and he was creating music. He was an incredibly talented and gifted songwriter and musician.  His rendition of Willie Nelson’s Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground would send shivers down your back. One of my favorite songs that he wrote and performed was Dog Hollow Road, which told of the adventures that he and his older siblings (Ruth, Edna, Earl, Jack and Walt) experienced on the dirt road out in the boonies where he grew up, just a few miles from Barkeyville, PA.

Alan had a wicked sense of humor – his dry wit and facial expressions could usually make even the meanest person smile.  He liked to play jokes and have a good time. He was even a model – back in the 1990s he posed for posters for Movin’ Out.  During his illness, friends and family rallied around him, giving him support and raising money with a Rockin’ For Roddy Benefit.  Hundreds of people attended the benefit with musicians playing all day long. 

It is hard to have a loved one leave this earth.  It’s not easy and it is never fair.  I found a photo I had snapped of a sign – it sums up what Cancer can NEVER take from us.

In the end, while sitting at my computer desk on this early Sunday morning, I pulled up a video of Uncle Alan performing Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground and I found my title, but more importantly I realized that he left a message for all of us:

Fly on fly on past, the speed of sound
I'd rather see you up than see you down
So leave me if you need to, I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground.