I received news this week that my friend Eugene Oh died. He was in his thirties, a husband and father of a toddler, and died suddenly from a hemorrhage in his brain. 

I first met Eugene while visiting my brother in Korea. While hiking and scrambling up what we called the “Razorback Mountains,” I learned that Eugene could make anyone laugh.

Several years later he visited us in Rochester during the dead of winter. We trekked over to Black Creek Park where he and Jason made a snow jump for our GT-cruiser (a contraband Canadian sled that isn’t sold in the US). We took turns laying down under the jump, first one and then two of us. Laying there with Eugene, while Jason flew overhead, I learned that Eugene was a little crazy and always up for fun. 

A year or two later, we all dressed up for Jae Rin’s wedding at West Point and then headed to the Caktskills for rockclimbing. I believe it was on this trip that Eugene told me the funniest, true-life story I’ve ever heard. 

Eugene had been invited a party and was the first guest to show up. The hostess, a new friend, sat him on the sofa and offered him tea. She returned, handing him a mug and a cookie, and then went back to the kitchen to finish getting ready for the party.

Eugene took a bite of the cookie, but could barely get his teeth through it. Poor girl, he thought, must not be a very good baker. But, Eugene–too nice to hurt anyone’s feelings–decided he better just chomp through the cookie as fast as he could and be done with it. 

Finally, he finished the cookie. Other guests began to arrive and joined him on the sofa. The hostess brought each of them their own mug of tea and their own cookie. 

Then, the strangest thing happened. The other guests took their cookies, placed them directly on the bare surface of the coffee table and put their mugs on top. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if after welcoming Eugene into heaven with a hug and a “Well done, good and faithful servant,” Jesus asked him, “Can you tell me the story about the coaster? It makes me laugh every time.”