Good-By, Lightning

This is Bob. He's been a rock in the department where I work since the day he started. Almost no one in the entire place calls him "Bob" but uses the nick-name he picked up early in his employment, Lightning. It's not that he is super fast at getting his assignments completed, or that his sharp wit can reach out an cut someone without the receiver even knowing he's bleeding (which it most certainly can). No, Bob's moniker is in homage to his uncanny talent of being caught at almost every instance when he tried to "suspend" the rules. Originally, it was observed that he drew managers to him like a lightning rod and the name stuck.
Today was Lightning's last day on the job. For the last few years we in the department have watched him battle MS and stroke related illnesses as he continued to carry his part of the load. But the MS, while it would relent for a time, never stopped and it wore Lightning down until his conscience wouldn't let him keep his job. There is a hole in our group now and we will miss him.