ON AN ORDINARY Sunday evening in June, an acquaintance of mine of more than 40 years, Fred Brooks, quietly slipped away from this earth. Not having been a mover or shaker, Fred’s passing went relatively unnoticed, except for his family and the rest of us that knew him and loved him.

Over the years, I had the pleasure of working with Fred at three different grocery stores. Most recently we worked together for seven years at the West Rome Kroger. Fred was a hard worker, having worked his entire life. Even on worn out knees and sore legs, Fred could still out-stock most of today’s “Johnny come latelys.”

We kidded and called each other “cuz” even though we weren’t related.

Another name we called each other was friend. I was proud to call Fred a friend and even prouder he called me one.

While deeply saddened over his passing, I smile and take refuge in the fact that if Heaven has chewing tobacco, Fred is chewing it and if Heaven has a grocery store, Fred is stocking it.

When the West Rome Kroger closed we said our good-byes but I wanted to take one last opportunity to say so long to my “cuz”, my friend and a real grocery man, Fred Brooks.