[Oe List ...] FW: A glimpse into Ruthe Yost's life

[Lynda Cock]

The Wayside Inn dynamic made its impact!   Thought our community would
appreciate sharing this story. Seems especially meaningful at this season.
Lynda Cock

  _____  

From: Brother John [mailto:john at umaria.co.za] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:43 AM
To: 71311.461 at compuserve.com
Cc: Lynda Cock
Subject: A glimpse into Ruthe Yost's life


You all don't know me at all.  I am the nephew of Lynda and John Cock.  I
have had contact with both Yosts during a brief period in my life when I
really needed them.  They literally were angels who looked after me.
 
After I was a senior in College and feeling rather directionless, I had the
opportunity to go ot Salzburg, Austria to study German at one of the Goethe
Institutes probably to put a hold on my pressing obligation to find a job.
I studied Music and discovered after 4 years of being in an arts school I
didn't want to become a musician.  That meant that I had to get a "real"
job.  But I went to Austria instead.  
 
I had 6 glorious weeks in Salzburg and didn't want to see them end.  As I
heard about another Goethe Institute language class starting up in Vienna, I
decided to extend my delay another month.  But being rather young and naive
to travel, I arrived in Vienna and found myself without a place to stay
during that month.  All the hostels that the Goethe Institute were using
were full, and I didn't arrange anything before I left Salzburg.  I
panicked.
 
And then, I remembered that my uncle, John Cock, said that there was a
couple from the ICA who were living in Vienna, and he told me to look them
up if I could.  He gave me their phone number and address.  That couple was
George and Ruthe Yost.  I looked on a map as to where they were, not even
sure if they were still living there.  
 
I dragged my one big suitcase and instrument and proceeded to walk there.
Exhausted, I reached their apartment in a colourful Jewish neighbourhood of
Vienna, rang the doorbell and Ruthe answered the door with a puzzled and
caring look on her face.  I told her who I was, and she immediately asked me
to come in.  I told them my story, and they said that they had one bed left
in their place.  They offered me that bed for the next month even while they
were housing another African student studying at the University of Vienna.
The relief that came over me caused me to almost cry.

During that month, not only did they put me up, but were incredible hosts.
Their hospitality to me was so kind, so generous and I grew to care for them
very much.  They showed me Vienna, much of the area around Vienna and really
guided me through the city of Vienna to the point where I wasn't so
intimidated by it anymore.  I grew to love Vienna and Austria so much partly
because I saw it through their eyes.  They loved it there so much
themselves.  

Since I left them, I never saw them again, and so I never really got to tell
them how they were real rescuers for me when I needed them most.  But
perhaps they knew that.  When my uncle, John, told me that Ruthe had died,
all of these memories came flooding back to me.  Thank you for allowing me
to remember them and to communicate them to you.  I have not forgotten their
generosity and hospitality to me so many years ago when I was young, scared
and in need of what they were able to give me so much.  
 
I am now a Benedictine monk in South Africa twenty years later, and part of
the Benedictine charism is the ministry of hospitality.  I am currently in
charge of the Guesthouse here, and I would like to think that their natural
and spontaneous and generous form of hospitality has rubbed off on me.  They
are certainly role models for me.
 
Thank you,
Br. John, OHC


This message was checked by Symantic Antivirus Corporate edition

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20051227/95975184/attachment.htm