Sweet serendipity: Lifelong friendships built in unexpected places

Lessons from Everyday Life By Theodore Lewis

Bridgman, MI—Most of my friendships have developed through family, where I lived, or where I worked. However, a few friendships have also developed through serendipity. I became friends with Edwin Newman, the famous NBC news correspondent, after meeting him on a Queen Mary 2 (QE-2) cruise in the Caribbean.

On another QE-2 cruise, I met the famous author Jodi Picoult on the rear deck of the ship one afternoon. We exchanged life stories and corresponded via email for several years.

My most serendipitous start to a friendship occurred in the summer of 2012.  I had just started my consulting business and responded to the call for an interim CEO role at a hospital in Southern Indiana. While working this gig, one weekend I decided to drive up to Berrien Springs, Michigan (about a three-hour drive) and pay a visit to my sister, her husband, my niece and some other friends.

My sister had planned a big lunch for me, where she would serve some of my favorites, such as freshly picked tomatoes, sweet corn, and, of course, peach pie made with local peaches that were in season.  The meal was to start at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2012.

As I was traveling north on Highway 31 at about 12:30 p.m., I decided to call my good friend Niels-Erik Andreasen, who was the president of Andrews University. Dr. Andreasen had been a friend for many years and had married Sharon and I in 2004.

When I told Erik I was driving toward Berrien Springs, and about an hour away, he invited me to a special lunch his wife, Demetra, had prepared for some friends from the university who would be commencing right about the time I would be arriving in town.

I hesitated as my sister was preparing a wonderful meal for me. Dr. Andreasen insisted that I join them. Partly because I was a member of the Andrews University President's Council, an advisory group Dr. Andreasen had formed, I felt compelled and agreed to stop at their home first upon my arrival in town.

I then called my sister Dianne to tell her I would not be there at 1:30, but would arrive a couple of hours later.  

After arriving at the Andreasen home, I was introduced to their guests, including Hans and Herta von Stiegel. That was graduation weekend at Andrews University. Herta was being honored as a special alumnus and was to keynote the commencement exercises the next day.

As we sat around the table enjoying a wonderful lunch prepared by Mrs. Andreasen, I learned that Herta was from and had grown up in Romania. Of course, I had to share my experience of being part of the Andrews University band that traveled to Romania in 1977, and had smuggled Bibles and religious material miraculously through a very strict customs section at the Bucharest airport monitored by the Romanian military.

Herta von Stiegel

Herta grew up in Romania during that time of limited freedoms, and so we had an instant connection. During our conversation, Hans asked me if I had been in Lansing, Michigan, years earlier.  It turns out that I had worked in the same office as his mother when I was fresh out of school.

What a coincidence. All of a sudden, these two strangers became my friends.

At that time, Herta and Hans were living in London, where Ariya Capital was based. Ariya Capital, founded by Herta, is an investment firm specializing in clean energy and telecommunications projects in Africa.

Herta received her Juris Doctor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, her Master of Laws in Taxation from New York University School of Law, and completed the executive program in corporate finance at the London Business School.

The next day, she was to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Andrews University. I hadn't planned on it, but after meeting Herta and Hans, I decided to attend the commencement service at Andrews the next day, and was so glad that I did.

Squeezing my way into the back row of the jammed Pioneer Memorial Church, I listened to Dr. von Stiegel's speech. It was one of the most fascinating and inspiring speeches I had ever heard.

Titled "Catastrophe, Complacency or Courage," the speech was about the strikingly different leadership styles evident with the sinking of the RMS Titanic, commanded by Capt. Edward John Smith, and the survivors’ rescue by the RMS Carpathia, led by Capt. Arthur Henry Roston. 

Dr. von Stiegel expertly contrasted Capt. Smith’s careless decisions and behaviors against Capt. Roston’s heroic and courageous measures that resulted in the rescue of 706 Titanic survivors.

She advised the graduates to always do the right thing, even if it may require the kind of courage exhibited by Capt. Roston, who risked dangerous ice fields in deadly darkness to come to the rescue of 706 surviving souls.

That weekend was the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Hans and Herta.

In 2014, while I was CEO of the Guam SDA Clinic, I had the pleasure of introducing them to the Guam community for a screening of their award-winning documentary, "The Mountain Within," which is based on their experience leading a multinational, multi-ability group in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

This friendship has only grown stronger with the passage of time.

Serendipitous friendships are the best.

Theodore Lewis is the former CEO of Guam Memorial Hospital and has a healthcare consulting business in Bridgman, MI. He is collecting stories about lessons learned in life and can be reached at theodorelewis@yahoo.com.

In an earlier version of this article, we inadvertently used the wrong photo of Herta von Stiegel. Our sincere apologies. -- The Editor

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