The stuff of legends 5: Voice of a Hero

I've always been a big fan of audio books. I came across a series several years back by Stephen King that was all epic and had plenty of heroes in all 7 volumes. Since I'm a big horror novel and horror movie fan, as well as a huge SK fan, I loved the series. The audio books were narrated by Frank Muller. He is, in my opinion, the best narrator who will ever walk this earth. I was going through some pretty tough times when I started the series. The main character of this 7 book cycle, Roland Deschain of Gilead, was one of the characters that stood out to me. Who gave me the courage to move forward, I guess you could say. But Frank brought so much life to this guy by the voice he created for Roland. Whenever I was having an off day, I'd get home and after homework and whatnot, I'd listen to him read for a while.
I knew I wanted to go into audio book narration. No, I don't want to try to fill this guy's shoes. No one ever could do that. No one ever will. But he gave me the want to.
Frank suffered a motorcycle accident in 2002 and was no longer able to narrate. I learned this past evening that Frank passed away last week on June 4th and that his life was celebrated on June 7th. How I wish I could have been there. I didn't even know he passed away until a few minutes ago. Sad? Yeah, you bet. I wanted to meet him and to tell him just how much his narration meant to me. I wanted to at least e-mail him. But my bothersome screen reader never seemed to want to cooperate. I'd still like to write to his family via his homepage sooner than later. From what I read, it seemed like he was a terrific family man. A loving father and husband. Qualities I myself hope to possess whenever I meet Miss Right. I really looked up to him. Still do, actually.
I can't really sleep this evening. This was all so unexpected. I feel like I've been frozen in carbonite for the last week or so. How could I have missed this news until this evening?
Anyway, this post goes out to you, Frank. You were the best. You pulled me into every story you narrated and made them seem better than any film or even the written word itself. Thank ye, sai. May you find peace in the clearing at the end of the path. You lived your life to the fullest. Like Roland and the members of his ka tet, you were able to stand and be true through all your trials. You were the true definition of a hero. Farewell. I may not have known you in life, but that doesn't change anything. I will miss you.