Jill's Journal: In the name of perfection

The older I get, it seems that I’m remembering how, where and I why I first met someone.

Those memories surfaced over the weekend while scrolling through Facebook. To my surprise, a friend noted the passing of the Rev. Dennis Bossman.

I first crossed paths with Dennis in the mid-80s. I was a reporter-photographer for the Luverne, Minn., newspaper, and my assignment – about this time of year – was to write a story on an Eastertime tradition in the tiny town of Ellsworth, Minn.: the community production of The Living Last Supper.

As a young, eager journalist, I set out for the high school, where the play was presented to massive crowds for a series of performances. My contact was none other than Dennis Bossman.

He wasn’t a pastor at the time. Instead, he taught English and drama to high schoolers in Ellsworth, and it was clear from the moment that we met that Dennis certainly knew theatre. And he was passionate about the precious story that they were telling.

I remember him being somewhat demanding, but those demands were made all in the name of perfection. There were also massive props that rolled in and out and proper lighting for whatever scene of the story was being performed.

I was surely impressed by what the folks in Ellsworth were doing. 

Things do come full circle. Thirty years later, still in the business of reporting and snapping pictures, my path crossed with Dennis once again. And it happened right here in Brandon. I first knew him as the associate pastor at Brandon Lutheran Church. In the years that followed, I wrote more stories that involved Dennis, who had transitioned from teaching high school kids English and directing theatre to that of a pastor teaching folks about the gospel.

And as for his love of theatre, well that never left him. As his obituary notes, he was involved with a handful of community theatre groups, including our own Mighty Corson Art Players.

I recall when Dennis plugged for “resurrecting” The Living Last Supper right here in Brandon. The props, as I learned, had been stored for years in a barn in Ellsworth and were being offered up to Bossman and the Brandon community. Once again, I watched his passion – and his demands – as he put together a cast and behind-the-scenes crew, secured the props, organized lighting and music. Once again, he did it all in the name of perfection. And once again, I interviewed him and wrote a story about the history behind it all and why he desired to bring it all to Brandon. 

I also interviewed Dennis on his recovery from illness that literally had deemed him “dead.” But God wasn’t ready for this man quite yet, and like The Living Last Supper that he had perfected time and time again, he lived to direct and preach Sunday morning sermons once again.

My last story with Dennis was about his one and only opportunity to act in a film production, Pale Dawn. I remember him telling me that when he first read the script in a group reading, he honestly didn’t care for the story line. But months later, when his phone rang, asking him to join the cast, he excitedly said yes on the condition that this role required very little physicality. As it turns out, “Old Larry,” the character her performed in the show, was largely contained to a chair. It turned out to be the perfect role for this man of perfection.

It’s somewhat ironic that I write one more story about the man who I was once a bit intimidated by as he made demands – all in the name of perfection. But yet again, like Dennis who was called to a life of teaching and preaching and directing, Dennis deserved one last curtain call – all in the name of perfection.