Ted Long from Toledo, Ohio

Ted Long would have been 46 today. Some called him Teddy Bear because he was cute and short and had blondish curly hair. He went missing back around 1982 and they never found his body. His mother felt he was murdered and has since died of cancer. She was sure he was dead because, even though he would hitch to Florida or California to visit friends and acquaintances, he would always come back or call on or around Christmas, knowing he would receive some money or gifts. The call never came and all his clothes were still hanging in his closet, so it didn't appear he took off on another trip. Some say he knew too much about some important and rich and closeted homosexuals, someone with a gated residence near Columbus who would have him picked up in a limousine and buy all his clothes...

I don't know what happened to Ted's father and two sisters. We were best friends for awhile and stole away to New York City for a weekend in 1978. Somewhere I have a poem about us looking for a bar there, running in the rain, and seeing the Plain Truth magazine on a magazine rack on the street next to some vendor. Later, as I began to follow my religious beliefs (as taught by Herbert W. Armstrong) and avoided the bars, we basically went our separate ways, but still loved each other as friends. I wonder how many of his other friends or acquaintances remember Ted today or that it was his birthday. I look forward to seeing Ted in the resurrection.