FROSTlines
Mentors, Memories, and the Moments We Miss
Social media is great for keeping us connected – and reminding us of how fast time is passing
Facebook and other social media sites are great for keeping up with friends. I love seeing pictures of old colleagues and people I used to hang out with in high school — their kids and grandkids, their fabulous trips abroad, their new pets. But more and more often, those cheerful updates are interrupted by news that another familiar face is gone — a reminder of just how quickly things can change.
Last year, when my high school class was gearing up for our 40th (!) reunion, the lead organizer posted a list in our Facebook group of all who had passed away since we graduated. There were about 25 people on the list, out of our small graduating class of less than 300. I moved away from the area right after college, so I hadn’t heard about most of them. Needless to say, it came as a shock. All social groups were represented — the popular crowd, the nerds, the jocks, the band kids (my people!). I was sad but also somewhat relieved to find that my closest friends from that time period were not on the list.
That all changed last Fall, when I logged onto Facebook to find that one of my best friends from middle school through college had died suddenly of cancer. I had no idea. We had kept in touch periodically — texting once or twice a year, commenting on each other’s social media posts, and meeting up during my increasingly infrequent visits to my hometown. My last text from her came early last year, when she asked whether I planned to “come home” over the summer. With work and my daughter’s wedding to plan, it was not in the cards, but I told her I would be back “soon.” And then she was gone.
I received another jolt a few weeks ago when someone in the industry asked me about Peter Powell, the long-time refrigeration editor at The ACHR NEWS. She mentioned how much she liked meeting up with him at trade events and that she missed seeing him after he retired in 2015. I suddenly realized that I hadn’t heard from him in a while, so I did what we all do — I Googled him. And that’s when I learned he had passed away two years ago. Two years. How had I not known?
For those who didn’t have the chance to know him, Peter was the kind of colleague and mentor you hope to find early in your career. He seemed to know everything about refrigerants and refrigeration — not in a know-it-all kind of way, but in that steady, reassuring way that made everyone around him smarter and more informed.
His time in the HVACR industry started in the mid-1980s when he worked as editor of Refrigeration Service and Contracting (RSC) magazine, which BNP Media — the parent company of The ACHR NEWS — had recently acquired. When I joined the company in 1991, I remember listening in awe as strange words like chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluoroolefins rolled effortlessly off his tongue. He was so smart, but what I appreciated even more was his generosity. He never hoarded what he knew — he shared it freely, especially with a nervous new editor trying to find her footing.
I last spoke with Peter in 2018, when I returned to The ACHR NEWS full-time after more than 20 years of working part-time for the publication. He called me up, and after the usual chitchat about our families, he paused and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to ask — are you out of your mind going back to work full time? You had the perfect gig.” I laughed and brushed it off, saying something about how not all of us were ready to retire. But Peter didn’t let it go. He gently reminded me that life isn’t all about work and that you can’t wait too long to step away and spend time with the people who matter.
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Even though I’m not yet ready to retire, I’ve found myself thinking about that last conversation more and more. It led me back to some of Peter’s old columns, where you could sense that time — and loss — were on his mind, too. In one, he wrote, “It is sad, especially for us old folks, when a familiar, respected name in the industry disappears. But, it is just the way it is.” In another, he reflected, “What 25 years has taught me most is how special the people in this industry have been to the industry and to me. And when we lose one of those special people, they are missed.” Peter was one of those special people.
Life moves faster than we think, and the names we see on those sad social media posts are reminders that none of us has unlimited time. That should be a great incentive to pick up the phone or send an email to an old friend, mentor, or colleague — while we still can.
