A sad note was delivered to theater patrons of the Huron area in the past two weeks.

A little less than two weeks ago, my wife shared that Bill VanDoren had passed away in Sioux Falls.

Bill was a fixture behind the scenery and in the director’s chair for numerous Center Stage Theater productions in the 1990s.

I had Bill as a director in two productions in which I participated. He brought a calm presence and wildly quirky sense of humor to the stage.

And on Thursday, word came from his daughter Heather that John Groth had passed as well, in Davenport, Iowa, where he moved after he left Huron in the early 2000s.

John was a dominating presence on stage for CST, in an array of roles. I will never forget him bursting through a door on stage, in full female dress, in a production of “Love, Sex and the IRS.”

John was part of the group that I hung out with, as my first marriage ended and before my last one began.

We played football in Campbell Park, sang barbershop, drank a beer or three and became proficient dart throwers.

My favorite memory of John was holding play practice in the back of his insurance office downtown. He had an ancient Coca-Cola machine, which he had restocked with long-neck beer bottles. It was the coldest beer.

During a rehearsal break, I was thumbing through a box of record albums - back before they were an oddity - and came across...and I swear this is true...an album titled “Ethel Merman Sings Disco.”

There are copies available on Ebay, I sincerely hope that John kept it tucked away for the past 30 years.

Damn guy wouldn’t sell it to me.

It is common on Broadway, for the marquee lights to dim when an important member of the theater community passes away.

Bill and John earned their moment. Farewell friends.

Dim the lights

Here is a bit of happiness in what is sometimes a dismal news feed.

The state parks in Virginia has installed specialized view finders, that allow people with red-green colorblindness to experience the colorful changing leaves throughout the state.

What a thoughtful idea.

The story I read estimated between 300 and 350 million people worldwide are affected by colorblindness.

Can you imagine driving through one of the colorful venues and not being able to enjoy the view?

If you have seen any videos online of people who are colorblind being given glasses made by the same company as are outfitting Virginia, it is heartwarming.

Kudos to Virginia for making the effort to include these folks.

I was able to visit with the ladies in the Huron Area Women Business Leaders (HAWBL) group this week, about the plastics collection goal they have, and how it will lead to a new bench for a park in Huron.

The great thing - in addition to having a place to sit and enjoy the outdoors - is that all of the different types of plastics the group is collecting are those that are currently NOT allowed in the city’s recycling effort.

Continue to put your paper, metal and some plastics in your blue city container; everything you do ends up someplace other than a landfill.

But, I encourage you to join me and add a HAWBL collection bag.Keep a few more things out of a landfil and help them reach their goal!

Our grandkids may thank us for it some day.