Well done good and faithful servant!

This evening as I process the news of the sudden death of one of my college professors, my mind is swirling with memories. I first met Dr. Fairman in a new student orientation class in January 1994 when I transferred into Lancaster Bible College.  There were only about 8-10 students in that class and he made that class fun.  Dr. Fairman had such a terrific sense of humor and a great laugh, one that I still hear in my mind whenever I think of him.  Later on I had him for Bible classes as well.  Dr. Fairman was more than “just” one of my professors.  Because my job in college was in the Registrar’s office, which was in the same area as the Academic Dean and all the professors’ offices, I had an opportunity to know Dr. Fairman other than as a student in his classes.  I spent a lot of time hanging out in his office before or after work just talking.  Dr. Fairman was interested in really knowing people.  He didn’t settle for just the superficial, he wanted to know how you thought, what your spiritual life was like, what you were struggling with, or what was going well.  He quickly became like a father to me while I was in college and we maintained sporadic contact after college.  Dr. Fairman underwent major open-heart surgery while I was a student at Lancaster Bible College.  He had major complications and I remember many prayer requests going out when it wasn’t clear if he would pull through.  But God had unfinished plans for him and he was back teaching in what seemed like a very short time.  Those complications affected his health the rest of his life, but he never complained and maintained a very positive humorous outlook on life, as well as a close relationship with God.  

I was able to introduce Scott and Dr. Fairman at my college graduation (I finished my last class by correspondence course and returned to campus a year later for graduation) which was important to me as Dr. Fairman had such a big impact on my life during college.   He was invited to our wedding two years later and he and his wife, Judy, were able to come and celebrate with us.  I will never forget when we tried to open our sparkling grape juice at the reception to realize that it had a bottle cap, not a screw on/off cap.  It got a big laugh when Dr. Fairman, a Bible professor, stepped forward with a bottle opener to open it for us — and he found it just as humorous as everyone else.  

We lost contact for a few years until after Scott’s death.  Dr. Fairman reached out 6 months to a year after Scott’s death when we reconnected on Facebook.  We maintained fairly regular contact for a few years before life intervened again.  He told me many times to call him Rick, not Dr. Fairman as we were no longer in a student/professor role, but I never felt comfortable making that switch.  He will always remain Dr. Fairman in my memory.  I remember in every one of those phone conversations, emails, and face to face contacts with him and his wife, he made it a point to ask how he could pray for me and my family — and to check in and see how things were going on those specific things.  Dr. Fairman was always interested in really knowing me, how I was doing spiritually, and how he and his wife could pray for me.  Our last phone conversation was 5-7 years ago.  My biggest regret is that he reached out about six months ago via Facebook messenger and things were so busy with work, health issues, and Jaelyn’s sports that I didn’t have time/energy to talk on the phone.  He promised to check back in a few months and asked how he could specifically pray for me and Jaelyn in the meantime.  That was our last contact.  

Dr. Fairman was a godly man, who continually strived for a closer relationship with God and to improve his intercessory prayer life.  He was an amazing role model as a professor, father-figure, husband, and Christian.  His commitment to his wife, children, and their families, as well as to his church and friends to really be present in their lives and invested in their spiritual lives as well will serve as an example for me for the rest of my life.  I know that I am not the only one that he has impacted in this way. I am sure that there are many people that I will see in heaven one day as a direct result of Dr. Fairman’s impact on their lives.   I am confident that he heard, “Well done my good and faithful servant” when he crossed from our earthly realm into the heavenly realm on Monday.