On page 105 of the November 1999 issue of Singing News, there is a photo of Glen Payne. Next to that photo are four paragraphs that I wrote on October 15 - four paragraphs that caused the magazine printers to stop printing and start over.

You see that particular day, I had to prepare a page that I had absolutely dreaded for several days prior.

It was the announcement that Glen Payne had died at the age of 72, just five days short of his 73rd birthday.

Only six weeks before, Glen learned he had liver cancer. During that six weeks, his condition was up and down like a yo-yo, until those final four or five days. Then it became apparent that the end was near.

Russ Farrar, in his article that appeared in The Trade Review at that time, wrote this...

"Glen's wife, Van, was kind enough to give me permission to share with you the way Glen passed from this life into glory. On Friday afternoon, October 15, 1999, Glen was near the point of death from the liver cancer that had ravaged his body. Although not in any pain, he would kind of drift in and out as he lay in his bed. Sometime between 2:00 and 2:15pm the family was gathered around Glen's bed and everyone there was singing "Victory In Jesus." Then the next song was "What A Day That Will Be." As the family was singing, on three occasions Glen said "Wow." Then, as Van describes it, those standing near the head of the bed saw a flash of light much like a flashbulb going off on a camera and Glen peacefully took his last breath and made his way to his eternal home.

"I don't think there could have possibly been a better homecoming or one more well deserved, and I think we all look forward to seeing Glen sing in the heavenly choir."

A lot of the people involved in Southern Gospel Music today never got to meet Glen or even if they knew him, they didn't get to spend much time with him. I was one of the lucky ones. No, I should say I was one of the blessed ones.

Simply stated, Glen was a genuine person and nothing pleased him more than one of these two things: 1) hearing (or singing) solid quartet singing and 2) seeing young members of Southern Gospel Music succeed. He was a cheerleader to many of us, regardless of what roles we fulfilled.

The last time I got to spend any "real" time with Glen was in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada at the 1999 Canadian Gospel Quartet Convention. My wife Christina and I were walking through the hotel (Red Deer Lodge) and we ran into Glen and Van (Glen's wife). We stood and talked (Glen and I talked about Gospel Music, Christina and Van talked about kids) and it was a great half hour or so. Then Glen said, "Well, I guess we'd better go. I'm feeling kinda tired, so I'd like to get a nap before tonight."

In retrospect, that statement - "I'm feeling kinda tired" - was very poignant as Glen's relatively sudden loss of enegry during that time frame was one of the factors that caused Glen to visit the doctor several weeks later. It was then that the cancer was diagnosed.

I'll be honest, Southern Gospel Music, for me, hasn't been quite the same since Glen died. Don't get me wrong - it's still a great thing and I don't know of another thing I'd like to be involved in.

But there's a void that I - and many others - know won't be filled.