Today, I learned that a very dear friend in Germany passed away late last summer. Amy Whitebell sent the news via Facebook. Apparently, he had a serious motorcycle accident in 2007 and complications from his injuries finally resulted in his death. The picture here is of Bernd in 2006 -- downloaded from Amy's Facebook site (thank you, Amy). When I moved to Germany, Bernd and his extended family were the first to make me feel welcome They gathered me into their fold, nurtured me in German culture, introduced me to the German Baha'i community, and made me feel as if I were a member of their family.
I recall the first time I met Bernd and his wife, Shirin Panahi-Bota. I was living in Nurnberg at the time. Albert Panahi invited me to meet him at Bernd and Shirin's home in Neckargemund. I was driving to Heidelberg for a meeting on a day when he would be visiting Bernd and Shirin. Ackwardly, I arrived at the Bota home before Albert. I learned that there would never be ackwardness with Bernd. He accepted me into their home without a second thought and put me immediately at ease.
Bernd had a great old orange VW van in which he drove a small group to Czechoslovakia in December 1992. He, along with his son Shoghi, Vicki Sparks, his father-in-law Aziz Panahi, and I braved the ice-cold winter weather to attend a conference in Sumperk, about 40 km from the Polish border. We were there on New Years Eve when the country split into the Czech and Slovak republics. Bernd inadvertently left a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola in the van after our arrival. The next morning, the inside of the van was covered with little Coke-sickles: The bottle had burst and the droplets froze into brown, sparkling ice ornaments overnight!
Bernd taught me that it was polite to have both hands on the table when dining in Germany. He allowed me to read "Oh, wie schoen ist Panama" to his sons in my terrible German so they could have a good laugh. He translated German jokes into English for me. He was kind and loving. He was funny. He was a brother, and a dear friend.
