David CookThe last time I saw Reuben Summerlin, he may have been wearing a skirt.
It was the late '80s. Summerlin was a few years older at Red Bank High, and while I didn't know him too well, I looked up to him, for he had this natural mojo and charm, full of many things that can be hard to find in life, especially in high school.
Like confidence. A prankster hilarity. A servant's heart, even at 16. This love of life, and a quiet demand it love him back.
The skirt? Back then, boys couldn't wear shorts to Red Bank, but girls could wear skirts. Summerlin thought it was unfair and fought back, wearing a mini-skirt to school.
For the next 25 years, he continued to fight back. Against Western society's definitions of success. Against poverty and economic trouble in the Third World. Against a yawning, meaningless life.
That was the way he lived.
In a way, that was how he died.
Last week, Summerlin was hit while cycling across the main island of Fiji. It was day three of his journey, biking up to 100 kilometers a day. He'd wake up early, kiss his wife Diana and kids, Leah and Ike, then cycle to the next town hours away, where they'd meet him that afternoon.
"He was cycling toward Ba on Monday morning when he was hit by a car overtaking a [sugar] cane truck just outside Lautoka City," The Fiji Times reported.
He was killed instantly.
"Reuben was an extraordinary man who represented for many of us the ideals of passion, commitment, professionalism and honesty," said Judith Karl, head of the United Nations program where Summerlin worked.
After college (English major, Spanish minor), Summerlin joined the Peace Corps, which took him to frigid, faraway Kyrgyzstan, the former Soviet republic that hugs up against the northern border of China. Without running water, in epic cold, eating sheep tongue with his meals when offered. It was quintessential Reuben: immersion, service, sticking your (sheep) tongue out at a dull life.
After the Peace Corps, he worked in micro-finance, distributing loans to women in Third World countries. Then, he went to work for the United Nations Capital Development Fund, which promoted financial inclusion and economic development in the South Pacific.
Somewhere along the way, he made a promise to himself: he would travel to more countries than his age.
He was 44 when he died.
He'd traveled to 51 countries.
"He wouldn't come in wearing a business suit, insulting people and leave," said his brother Dan, director of corporate relations for CBL. "He immersed himself. He believed you had to understand and appreciate before you can help."
When he died, people across the globe mourned.
"The financial inclusion world has lost an important voice one who worked relentlessly on behalf of the people of the Pacific Islands," said Eliki Boletwawa, with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
In Kyrgyzstan, friends from 20 years ago remembered him on Facebook: Mr. Reuben, this place is forever changed because of you. Others made memorial gifts to Peace Corps - peacecorps.gov/donate - particularly for Kyrgyzstan. Friends toasted him at North Chatt Cat. Others gathered at Red Bank High.
"He went out into the world to help people," said his former history teacher, George Hamrick. "He was one of a kind. He was a good kind. We need more kind like him."
"To know Reuben was truly to love him," wrote Tracey Carisch.
The Carisch family - Tracey, Brian and their three girls - saw the Summerlins last month, stopping in Fiji for a month as part of their year-long service-adventure around the world.
They went diving and boating. Long dinners, with longer laughs.
"Being around Reuben meant we were thoroughly enjoying life," Tracey wrote on her blog, 100waystochangetheworld.com. "He was a storyteller and also a careful listener. He could command a room, yet make everyone in it feel important and appreciated. He was committed and passionate, while also being fun and carefree."
At the end of high school, Reuben - as student body president, with his Anthony Michael Hall hair, as Dan called it - gave a speech at graduation.
Like rich wine, his words, paraphrased below, have only gotten better with age.
"The whole world steps aside for the one who knows where he's going," young Reuben said. "Some people have it in their minds to be doctors, but what about those of us whose goals are different? If one can escape being sidetracked, some amazing things can be accomplished. What if a person is repeatedly told throughout his life he should be a politician, but in his heart, he wants to be a cowboy? My advice to that person, give up the podiums and social dinners for the saddle and pork and beans."
"If a person knows he can be happy as a cowboy," he continued, "then the whole world should step aside and let him be happy. In our mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world, happiness is an amazing accomplishment."
Here's to happiness.
Here's to Reuben.
Contact David Cook at dcook@times freepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook at DavidCookTFP.