I just received the following message from Michael’s sister.

Friends,

Want to let you know our brother Michael went home to the Lord at 5:30 a.m on Thursday, January 12.

He passed very peacefully, and was ready to go.

Thank you all for all your prayers and love. Angela and Diane have been in our thoughts daily, and want them especially to know Michael was not in pain through this, and kept that twinkle in his eyes.

More later, friends.
Kathy

Michael is best know as the juggler to his friends in David. I met Michael when the U.S. Embassy asked me to see if I could locate a U.S. Citizen that normally was in contact with his family in the U.S. weekly and had not been touch for a couple weeks.

I wrote of my experience in “Who is Your Angel”.

I will contact Angela and let her know.

Well actually it is a new Consul General (Kent Brokenshire) with the American Citizens Services in the U.S. Embassy in Panama City. I had the pleasure of getting to know Kent over the last two days.

Larry Shane (The Warden from Bocas del Toro) and I had dinner with Kent Thursday evening and discussed many of the issues we have been associated with and some of the concerns that we hear from U.S. Citizens in our areas.

I should mention one accomplishment that Larry can take pride in for Bocas. Bocas was having around 5 to six accidental drownings per year in Bocas because of Rip Tides on various beaches. Larry, with the aid of others, had warning signs posted on the beach areas. Since they have been up, there have been no further deaths of this nature. I think Larry deserves a big hand. Way to go Larry. Signs like that should be posted on several beaches on the Pacific side such as La Barqueta.

Back to our new Consul. I found Kent to be a very engaging individual. He mentioned that in contrast to some of his previous posts, he is now in a Paradise. He said this was his first real assignment in a country that is being sought out by U.S. Citizens as a retirement home.

That is easy to understand. With 22 years of service he comes to Panama from Iraq, Peru, Haiti, the Eastern Congo… You can see that getting to know U.S. retirees in Panama is a different experience. Continue reading →