departure...

This week was a fairly hard week for me emotionally.  When you see someone one day and then a few days later you find out they are dead and not due to natural causes you always wonder, "could I have changed the future?"  "Could something I have done, saved this person?"  Of course frequently we question ourselves over and over and return with the same answer that the future is now the past and what has happened, has happened.  On May 4, 2010 Ted Faul died, 20 years of fighting the darkness of schizophrenia.   Goodbye Ted....(the church was overflowing with the ones who love you and morn your departure)

From Bismarck Tribune..
Ted Archie Faul, 44, Mandan, died May 4, 2010. A memorial service will be held at 4:30 p.m. today, May 8, at Mandan Seventh-day Adventist Church. A private burial will be in Mennonite Brethren Country Cemetery, south of Harvey.

Ted was born on the farm near Hurdsfield on June 17, 1965. The family moved to Mandan in 1971, where Ted attended elementary and high school, graduating in 1983. He was an honor student and an outstanding cross-country runner. In adulthood, he was a thoughtful and sensitive son, brother, uncle and friend. A man gifted with rare intelligence, he earned degrees in education and mathematics from North Dakota State University.

His heart was big as a mountain and his creative ideas flowed freely. He pursued excellence in his many hobbies and interests with intensity and passion. Among his talents, he was a singer/songwriter, wood-worker and a student of architecture. He also admired and loved working with animals — especially his dog, “Molly,” and horse, “Piano Man.”

Ted persevered through 20 years of battling schizophrenia, through his faith in God and the promise of Jesus Christ. He will be missed and never forgotten by all who were fortunate enough to know him well.
Ted is survived by a large and loving family, including his mother, Georgia Faul, Mandan; sisters, Paula Toshima and husband, Mike, Pasadena, Calif., Ronda Parks, Allen, Kan., and Colleen Faul, Mandan; brothers, Jacob Joel Faul and wife, Juliet, Vista, Calif., Fred Rick Faul, Mandan, and Monte Faul and wife, Elicia, Mandan; and nine nieces, six nephews and one grand-niece.
He was preceded in death by his father, Archie Faul; and all of his grandparents