I woke up to an obituary notice this morning. A kid that I worked with down on the trading floor. He was a phone clerk that gave me his business.
Danny was a few years older than I was and was raising a young family in Oak Park. Since we lived blocks away we became friends outside of the trading floor.
Danny was a quiet reserved man who often shook his head at my gregarious and loud approach to life. I stopped at his home a couple times in the mid 1990’s as Jumbo Claus. I ran into his family in the early 2000’s at the Oak Park Farmers Market.
I said hello to his children and his son immediately said, “you’re Santa Claus.”
That made me feel so good.
Danny came down to the trading floor as a guest just before it closed. I walked over to give him a hug and he was taken back. The look on the faces of the people in his group were very odd. Danny was suffering from dementia and I was told he had early Alzheimer’s.
“Hello Danny, I’m Jumbo from Oak Park. I stopped by your house to be Santa for your kids. We worked together on the old bond floor.”
He softly replied, “Oh yes…. Jumbo! You were a great Santa. We went to Shanahan's a lot for gumbo.”
“Yes we did, Yes we did! We need to get a bowl of gumbo soon!”
“Oh Jumbo…. That would be nice. Please call me or I’ll forget.”
“I’ll do that old friend! Soon!”
His group started to walk away and Danny turned around one last time. He had a confused look as he pointed at me.
“Jumbo, right? You’re Jumbo?”
… and then he walked away.
I never got that bowl of gumbo with Danny Irving.
I’ve lost many colleagues through the years. So many that you forget they are gone, but the memories last a long time. Well, they last for some of us.
Life is so short and so precious. It’s fragility often shows up at awkward times.
Danny never lost his cool amidst the chaos of the markets. He had a slight pitch that I could hear when he had an order. Then he would flash it to the trading pit calmly. Everything was smooth and low key with Danny. That’s what made him stick out in the sea of aggression at the Chicago Board of Trade.
His calmness.
Rest well Danny Irving. Find peace in eternal grace old friend.
