OR OR - Bradley Wakefield, 36, Roseburg, 30 July 1991

[edzep54]

Thank you for re-establishing the link for Brad Wakefield's disappearance. Brad and I were friends in college in the mid-70's and on through the mid-80's. At some point - due to job relocations on my part, a number of address changes on both of our parts - we fell out of contact. Despite that, he was a person I considered a 'friend for life' and was certain that when we crossed paths again we would pick right up where we left off. I had met most of his family, and had a chance encounter with two of his brothers and his Dad while making a delivery out of my company car during the UPS strike in August '97. I had not met his older brother before and when he signed the delivery receipt, I saw the last name and since I was in Brad's home-town at the time, I asked 'are you related to Brad Wakefield?' The guy looked at me with a wary expression on his face as he asked "How do you know my brother?" When I replied that we were friends from our college days 20+ years earlier, his face lit up. He asked if I also knew his youngest brother and when I replied that I did, he informed me that both the younger brother and their Dad - whom I'd also met years before - were onsite. After a brief reintroduction I asked 'What is Brad up to these days?" After a moment of awkward silence I was informed that he had moved out west and 'hadn't been heard from for a while". Sensing that perhaps there had been some unfortunate rift in the family, I didn't press further. I bade them a fond farewell and went on about my business. FAST FORWARD to Spring of 2020. A musician that was revered by both Brad and myself in our youth had died. I resolved that I had to make a concerted effort to track Brad down before I got any older - I was 65 at the time. A few clicks later, I was stunned to encounter WebSleuths and the jarring 29 year old 'news' of Brad's disappearance. Within a short order I learned that the older brother, both parents, and a sister had died in the intervening years. I resolved that I would reach out to his younger brother and/or older sister if for no other reason than to express my very belated condolences on the disappearance of their brother Brad. I finally connected with the younger brother in the winter of '22-'23 and we met for lunch. I was so happy to connect with ANYONE from the family after all those years, and wanted to be respectful of Brad's memory and not ask a bunch of insensitive, probing questions. I learned that the surviving older sister had since passed away in the preceding year, leaving the younger brother as the 'last Wakefield' standing. In recounting my chance encounter with him, his Dad and older brother back in 1997, I conveyed my memory of the awkward moment when I'd asked 'what's Brad up to these days?' and the response with heartrending - until their dying days, his parents held onto hope that Brad would one day return, despite the intervening decades. He was a bright, funny, thoughtful, intelligent man whose memory I cherish. May he rest in peace.