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It was a beautiful November Saturday, sunny, with temps approaching 70 degrees. It was as if some benevolent spirit had ordered up this unseasonable pleasant weather.
Our day kicked off at Saint Peters Church in Philadelphia. Saint Peters first opened for business in 1761. Its first rector, William White, was also the chaplain to the U.S. Congress, during the Revolutionary war. The original high-backed box pews are still in use today, including the box reserved for the then mayor Samuel Powel, though it was frequently used by George and Martha Washington. Outside is the church cemetery, where many heroes of the Revolution rest in peace.
This particular Saturday, however, was all about the memorial for Jonathan. The church was filled with family and friends, as well as a handful of Humble Dollar folk, many of whom had never met Jonathan in person. Although I only knew him through a few dozen email conversations, Jonathan made me feel as if we were personally acquainted.
The homilies, given by his children, Hannah and Henry, brother Andy, his mom, and friends Jason Zewig and Bill Bernstein drove home just how special Jonathan was. (Hannah, you brought a few tears to my eyes.)
Jason and Bill are big deals in the world of personal finance, and I’m pretty sure sitting a few rows behind me was Christine Benz from Morningstar, whose articles I have read for many years. I felt a bit out of place in the presence of these people I so admire. I suspect that if Jonathan could comment, he would say something like, “nonsense, you belong here too”.
Often when I post to HD, I wrongly feel as if I’m only talking to a small group of regular contributors; there are, of course, thousands who silently follow the blog. During lunch at a nearby pizzeria after the service, I met three non-contributing readers of the blog, who also thought enough of Jonathan to attend the service. (It was an honor to break bread with John, Dan, and Sanjiv). I want to give a special thanks to fellow contributor, George Jones, who posts as Eludom, for making the reservation at a pizzeria down the street from St Peters.
Philadelphia was on our bucket list of cities to visit. We had hoped to make it to a HD pizza dinner that Jonathan spoke of putting together in the summer of 2024, before his diagnosis. Chris and I are so happy to have made this trip in order to pay our respects to the man that so many called a friend.
Thanks for making me feel like I was there. We hosted our son’s engagement party Saturday night, otherwise I would have loved to have met everyone.
Nice summary of the in-person experience Dan. It felt like Jonathan was there in a way.
I laughed when Jason Zewig said Jonathan confused his brokerage by opening a retirement account for son Henry minutes after he was born. Because of course he did. (I might have mixed up some details).
At lunch I confirmed something you see online, that “Humble Dollar people” are a good bunch: interesting, serious, and curious. I was glad to meet everyone in person. We had a lot in common because we’ve all been learning from the same humble teacher. I suspect we could have talked for hours.
Jonathan wanted this community to keep going. I’m pondering how we might be able to facilitate more small meetups if there is interest, either in person or or online. Thoughts?
I missed the pizza party Jonathan hosted because I had a previous engagement to drive to Georgia to see Augusta National Golf course, a lifelong dream. After learning of Jonathan’s diagnosis I realized I had lost my only chance to meet him.
I was planning on driving from NH, but came down with a vicious upper respiratory infection so I had to cancel.
I would love to have a meet up somewhere on the east coast maybe this spring to meet fellow posters here on Humble Dollar.
George, it would be interesting if some sort of Q&A Webinar could be arranged. Seems like we might need a moderator in order to herd us cats in the right direction.
I could do another google form to see if people are interested in local or remote meet-ups. Not sure about leading anything, but I could facilitate connecting small groups with similar interests/geographies and let them sort out their own logistics/goals/schedule, .e.g. “monthly zoom to swap ideas on …”
I was wondering the other day while riding my stationary bike if there is some sort of free mapping site available that HD members could put a dot where they live without providing personal information to see where readers of HD reside. Might be helpful to see if there is a concentration which might make a meetup feasible. Preferably with international locations as well. I’m pretty sure that there is one from 🇮🇪, 🏴, and 🇦🇺.
I like that I can put a face to the name with some of the contributors. I assume that functionality isn’t available now?
I like that idea, I don’t know if there is critical mass to support get togethers in some geographic areas. There are at least a few HD readers in the Raleigh-Durham area.
An RTP meetup in January would be fun.
Thanks for sharing and like many others, I wish I could have been there.
Dan, thanks for your report on Jonathan’s service. Wish I could’ve been there.
Dan, thank you for writing this. I appreciate that you and Chris, John, Dan and Sanjiv were able to be at Jonathan’s service for those of us who couldn’t be there. He touched so many of us. Chris
And George, can’t forget George; he made it all possible!
Yes! Thank you, George, for planning the pizza party. Chris
Thank you for sharing. It’s wonderful that you were able to go and to meet others who are part of the community, whether they post or not!
I agree Jonathan would have said “nonsense, you belong here too” or something like that. And as one of the thousands who regularly follow this blog, I consider you to be one of our representatives at the service. Jonathan was not only knowledgable and a gifted writer; he was humble. So the name he chose for this site was fitting. When I read the articles and comments, I often wonder “what would Jonathan think of this?”
When I read the articles and comments, I often wonder “what would Jonathan think of this?
Jonathan was skilled at politely but firmly intervening when we got a little off track. There are a couple active posts that I think would have earned such an intervention at this time. Would it be asking too much for people to police their own posts? Can we just not take the bait by ignoring blatant political or offensive posts? I have been an occasional sinner, still, I am certainly going to try. HumbleDollar risks losing credibility if we allow it to sink into darkness. HumbleDollar risks losing good writers if we descend into ideological bickering.
Thank you.
I agree and will confess that I’ve also been guilty of responding when it would be better to just take a moment of ‘humble silence’, as Mark suggests below. I appreciate the reminder.
Mark and Chris both mentioned that they have or are considering reducing their engagement with the site and it makes me wonder if there are others who are feeling that way. It would be a tremendous loss if the diversity of perspectives and experiences that are shared here is reduced because of a change in the tone of the writing and commenting.
Well said Dan. The increasing hard-line rhetoric here feels deeply counter to the spirit of ‘Humble Dollar.’ When we disagree, perhaps choosing a moment of humble silence would be more fitting. Simply moving past the article or ignoring the rude comment is a better reflection of our community’s name than abrasive confrontation and doubling down on a position. I’ve been thinking about giving HD a miss recently because of the behaviours.
What hard line rhetoric are you referring to. I don’t recall anything that meets that definition. Hard line on what topic?
It’s filtering into the comments all the time. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed the trend: uncompromising, inflexible, and divisive stances that go on and on. Ideas don’t need to be defended to the point where they undermine the site’s ethos. But I guess if you don’t see the issue, that’s fine. I’m not going to call out specific comments and get pulled into the endless back-and-forth that seems to be the new normal. That’s just not my style. I’ve better things to do, possibly poking myself in the eye would fit that criteria.
Mark, your “poke in the eye” comment reminded of a time when I suggested on line that I would rather “punch myself in the face”. I got the reply “go on then!”
I hope you didn’t take up the suggestion lol
ITA , Dan, I haven’t been commenting much for that very reason. Chris.
Hang in there Chris, your posts are some of the most thoughtful on the site. Rick Connor and Marjorie Kondrack, also two of my favorites, have cut back on posts.