The Passing of a True Gentleman — Daniel Ieyoub

Have you ever lost a friend and didn't find out about it until after the fact? Well, I just had such an experience and I just felt I had to do something to acknowledge the passing of a dear friend, Daniel Ieyoub. If you knew Daniel, your life was blessed by him in someway. Maybe it was just his general Joie De Vivre, or his Southern Gentleman manners, but I guarantee he added to your day.

I first met Daniel in a production of a play called "Monky Business." I spelled it right. It was a musical about monks. You wouldn't believe just how funny monks can be. But, that's another story. Getting back to Daniel.

I believe he played Brother Bernard in that production. Somehow it was easy to see Daniel in that role. Brother Bernard had a wonderful heart and a deep faith. I guess you could say that Daniel played himself in that role. I loved the way he played the role. Daniel was a very funny guy. He didn't care if he was the butt of a joke, he just loved to laugh. Every night of the run of that funny play, he made me laugh. He also moved me to tears.

Now, here I am up on stage with Daniel and I'm supposed to be this cool, hip monk. I was the bad monk of the bunch. At any rate, Daniel had this one song he sang every night about his patron saint and every damn night he made me tear up. Of course I had to go right back to being the bad guy 3 seconds later, but he got me every night.

Daniel was truly a passing breed of man. What a blessing to have the honor to call him "friend." He was truly a class act on stage and off!