| William Ames Christopher | ||
 William Ames Christopher, 67, of Cary died Sunday, May 27, 2007. Ames was born in Chuckatuck, Nansemond County, VA to the late Floyd H. Christopher and Dorothy Ames Christopher.
He was a graduate of NC State, Class of 1961 and retired from NC State Government as Asst. Director for persons with the Disabilities, Governors Advocacy Council. Some of his greatest joys in life were maintaining the beautiful gardens at his former residence at 408 Elm Street in Historic Oakwood, entertaining friends on his piano and sharing in their laughter. Ames is survived by his devoted friend of 37 years, W.J. “Bill” Caligari of Cary; his brother, F. Hudnall Christopher, Jr. and wife, Claire C. Christopher of Winston-Salem; nephew, David A. Christopher of Atlanta, GA; and niece, Ashley P. Christopher of New York City, NY; and his extended family of many close friends. A gathering of family and friends to celebrate Ames’s life will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 2, 2007 in the gardens at his former residence, 408 Elm Street in Historic Oakwood. Casual attire is requested. In lieu of flowers, Memorials contributions may be directed to Duke University Medical Center, Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Durham, NC 27710 or the charity of your choice. The family would like to thank Kathy Gill and staff of Rex Nursing Center, Apex for their exceptional care of Ames. Arrangements are with Bryan-Lee Funeral Home, 831 Wake Forest Road and condolences may be sent to the family at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com |
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Ames could hardly even be considered an acquaintance of mine; he’s a good friend of a friend of mine named Bill, which is how I saw him once a year—at Bill’s Annual Deck Party. I last saw Ames at said party in September of 2006, at which he was walking with the assistance of a walker.
What I’ve highlighted in red is interesting to me, because Ames made a special arrangement with the [straight] couple who bought his home—that whenever he passed, his memorial service could be held in those gardens.
I handed the teller my signed check for $15,705.39 and said, “Deposit into checking, please.”
She pushed my CFCU ATM card back at me and grabbed my driver’s license. After verifying that the name on it and the one on the check were the same, she keyed in my account number from the back of the check, which I’d written just below my signature.
“Savings?” she asked.
“No, checking,” I said.
She looked at me and raising one eyebrow she said, “You got plans for this?”
I couldn’t decide if it was a nosy question or a nice gesture to have a friendly conversational transaction.
“I’m going to celebrate my birthday with it,” I said.
She smiled, and keyed in the account number and amount.
“50.”
And after a few seconds, “In Sydney.”
And after a few more seconds, “And $5000 of it into my Roth IRA.”
She seemed satisfied with all that.
I edited my heart out all afternoon from Helios.
At about 6:30, I met David at K&W, where he returned my iPod that I had left at his and E-Ching’s house last night, and we had dinner.
I was in the mood for some baked spaghetti, which I don’t remember them not having had there in the past, but they didn’t tonight.
Instead, I ended up with some broiled Mahi mahi, which the server pronounced mowi mowi.
Once again, I was perplexed with the included “side choice” that comes with fish in that place—”Tarter sauce or coleslaw with that, sir?” Uhm, one’s a condiment and the other is a vegetable. It’s not like anyone ever says, “Ketchup or green beans with that sir?” when I get chopped steak.
On the way home, I stopped at Carmichael, where I walked the indoor track for an hour, listening to about 25 podcasts.
I met Joe at Flex for cheap drinks. We played a few games of cut throat pool with Gerald, and at about 11:00, I guess, the three of us went over to CCs for Open Mic night with Price and Rice.
It was the most crowded I’d ever seen that place on a Monday night—that is to say, at one point in the evening there were maybe 20 people there at the same time.
Jeremy was there, who was totally shit-faced again (as he was the other night when Matthew was threatening to throw him out of Flex). The boy has developed quite the drinking problem in quite the short amount of time. It’s a good thing he evidently already has a DWI, as he rides his bicycle to the bar now (and often brings it in).