A Supremely Kind Man
Illustration
by William Barclay

William Barclay tells of a November day when he saw a notice on a bulletin board of the London Central YMCA saying that Basil Oliver had died and that the funeral was to be that day, with a memorial service the following week. By the nature of the bulletin, Barclay said, you would have thought Oliver was a very important person--and in a sense, you would have been right, for everyone who had anything to do with the Central YMCA in London knew of him.

Basil Oliver was eighty-five years old when he died. More than thirty years before, sometime after the death of his wife, he had moved to London and had rented a room at the Central YMCA. When he retired, he began helping out in every possible way--collecting letters, going out for stamps, running errands, buying Sunday papers for staff members. But more than that, he was doing all sorts of kindnesses that most people knew nothing about until after he had died and they began sharing stories.

Dr. Barclay describes Oliver as a “supremely happy man,” “a supremely useful man,” and “a supremely kind man.” And then Barclay says, recalling that Oliver had come to the big, somewhat impersonal, city YMCA after becoming a widower: “He might have been a lonely man, but he had thousands of friends.” By giving himself to others, Basil Oliver became rich in human relationships.
In the Hands of God, by William Barclay