I received sad news from a friend. Thomas Wellington has passed away.
Tom was one of the first people I met when I moved to Nicodemus in 2012. He was always helping around the town, weed-eating, or mowing, or working on some project. At veterans events he would vividly describe his wartime service. At almost any town event he would begin proceedings by booming in with his deep voice, reciting Wake Nicodemus, the poem that supposedly inspired the town's name.
"Nicodemus the slave was of African birth and was bought for a bag full of gold. He was reckoned to be of the salt of the earth, but he died years ago very old"
Tom also told stories of his many years in Alaska. Some were so incredible they seemed almost impossible. But Tom meant what he said, and I never doubted they were true.
Tom also loved the Buffalo Soldiers. From his hats, to his jackets, to his license plate, to his email address, everything in Tom's life seemed to celebrate their history.
I got to know Tom best in his role as president of the Nicodemus Historical Society board of directors, which I served on for a while. Tom was a defender of Nicodemus history, and he, like I, was upset that the National Park Service, my former employer, had neglected preserving the town for so long. Last year Tom fought hard for the NPS to bring park rangers back to Nicodemus. If time couldn't be stranger, yesterday, the day Tom's lungs finally gave out, the National Park Service announced the appointment of the first ranger who will return. Tom lived to see it happen.
His life was strong and consequential.
We will miss Tom greatly.
In my head I can still hear his booming voice.
"Twas his last sad request, so we laid him to rest in the trunk of an old hollow tree. Wake me up was his charge at the first break of day, wake me up for the great jubilee"
"The good time coming is almost here. It was long, long, long on the way. Now run and tell Elijah to hurry up pomp, and to meet us at the cottonwood tree down in the great Solomon Valley. To wake Nicodemus today"
Goodbye my friend. Tom. May God's love be with you always.