On Tuesday morning I hosted the Open Mike Show with Willmar Schools Superintendent Jerry Kjergaard and School Board Member Mike Reynolds. I've know Mike for nearly 20 years, not only from his involvement on the school board, but I've also been in plays with him at the Barn Theatre, his kids and mine went to school at the same time, and I also know his son Anthony from the Barn, and Anthony also works for us part time at Q102. Mike's a great guy, always smiling and joking, and we're also Facebook friends. On the Open Mike Show we talked about how Mike was going to be doing Willmar Cardinal Hockey Play-by-Play this year on KWLM, and what was like when he called games back when his son Stephen was playing. He spoke with pride about how hard his son worked and how much he enjoyed the game of hockey. It seemed like a typical day, until I got home, and at 10 p.m. my son Michael called me and asked what happened to Stephen Reynolds? I said as far as I knew, nothing. I had spoken to his dad earlier in the day and everything was fine. But things were not fine. Michael told me people were sending condelensces on Stephen's Facebook page. A cold finger touched my heart. I told Michael I'd get back to him. I called Todd Bergeth, who confirmed to me that Mike Reynolds had discovered his son deceased in his bed that afternoon. I was shocked. Stephen graduated with my son Mike in 2010, was a fine athlete and was living and working in Willmar, going to Ridgewater College. But he also suffered from severe asthma, and it's believed he suffered an attack in his sleep. There was a huge turnout at Stephen's wake Friday night, and I found it hard to think how difficult this must be for Mike Reynolds, his wife Darla and sons Anthony and Alex. I just try to imagine what it would be like to be in his shoes, then I quickly chase those thoughts from my head...it's too much to think about. This isn't supposed to happen, but it happens every day. A person can't live their lives thinking every time they say goodbye to their kids that it might be the last time you talk to them. But it's always a great idea to make sure they know you love them. I feel honored that one of the last times Mike Reynolds was able to talk about Stephen unaffected by the black cloud of his loss was on our radio station.
