Every day since March 20 we have reported the COVID-19 cases. And the deaths. Each one of those was a friend or relative of someone. Last week it was my classmate.

Philip Binder graduated with me in the Palmerton Class of 1977. We reconnected over Facebook several years ago. He had started planning our reunion with Kathy Serfass, Rich Hrusovsky and whoever else would show up for meetings.

I worked in the Poconos for 28 years and had lost touch with classmates, but Phil drew me back in. He would take a picture at every one of those meetings at the West End Saloon. He would reach out on Facebook, send messages, make people feel welcome. He made me feel welcome.

They started putting together a memorial board of classmates who had passed. That’s when he decided we didn’t see each other enough. He said, “Life is too short.”

Phil had a stroke in 2011 and tremors and pain kept him from doing everything he wanted to do. He and his wife, Carla, made countless trips for treatment to Lehigh Valley hospitals and then Jefferson hospital.

No, he didn’t want to wait another five or 10 years to see people. He wanted the class to get together every month, and he made that happen. He’d set up a dinner on a Saturday night at a Palmerton restaurant and announce it to everyone through Facebook and texts. Once he connected, he demanded your phone number so he could keep in touch.

“As much as he didn’t feel well some nights, he made sure he would move around the table and talk to people,” Carla said.

One time Phil felt so bad that they packed up their dinner and went home.

But on all those other nights, Carla said he would take a nap so “he could be at his best for class get-togethers.”

No one could leave until a photo was taken.

I only made it to one of those dinners, but I loved seeing the photos every month. I missed out on getting to know Phil well, but he was the glue that held the class together.

When COVID-19 surfaced, the Binders sat out for the dinners.

“We both really missed that,” Carla said. “It was a night he looked forward to.”

He talked to everyone, Carla said, and he knew everyone. And he loved to share a cup of coffee with them.

His friend Rich said, “We generally met at least once a week for a cup, more often when we had time.”

He could fix anything and loved working on cars. “He was the mechanic and I was his not-so-talented assistant,” Rich said. “We talked politics and current events. Phil was a strong advocate of our Constitution, especially the Second Amendment.”

In addition to the monthly get-togethers with classmates, Phil tried his best to wish everyone a happy birthday and send a text on most holidays.

Those texts always made me smile.

“His text messages this Christmas were sorely missed by many friends,” Rich said. He was sick with COVID this time around.

Kathy Serfass was another cohort in the class planning and a longtime friend.

“He has always been an amazing friend and classmate since we were little. He was a quiet and gentle soul who loved his family and his dog.”

Again she mentioned his passion for restoring cars.

“He loved cruising in his Roadrunner back in the ’70s in high school and gave me rides to school.”

But it was the friendliness and sense of humor everyone remembers.

“He always made everyone feel at home and tried to put a smile on your face, by kidding around and telling corny jokes like Raymond the Amish comic.”

He was proud of his service to his country and his community. He served on borough council, the civil service commission and as president of the builder’s association at times during his life.

Phil enlisted twice. He began his military career in 1981 in the U.S. Army, where he was a mechanic.

Carla met him when he returned home. Friends set them up on a blind date at the end of June in 1985. “We hit it off right away,” she said.

They got engaged that July Fourth and married on Oct. 5 and were never apart unless he was on military duty.

“He was my best friend,” she said.

When their daughter Sarah was a baby, the Gulf War had started and Phil enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. There he trained in the electrical craftsman specialty. He was assigned to the 913th Civil Engineer Squadron, Willow Grove Air Reserve Station. He served with 913th for 16 years until the unit was deactivated in 2007. He then enlisted in the 166th Civil Engineer Squadron, Delaware Air National Guard, New Castle, Delaware in 2007, serving as an electrical craftsman and supervisor.

In the later years, Carla would drive him to the base. Before they got there, they stopped for coffee for everyone. He knew everyone and loved everyone.

“He wasn’t trying to attract attention, but just loved talking. And people liked him.”

A fellow military man told Carla, “There wasn’t a single person who didn’t want to work with him. It was like everybody was drawn to him. People just wanted to be by him.”

He was known as Mr. Fix-It and was always doing something at the house. Carla recalls that the only time they had to call someone was when the well pump went out. “We didn’t have the equipment or he would have done that.”

When another classmate died he spent time to make a frame for his military flag. “He wanted it to be perfect,” Carla said.

Things weren’t always perfect. In the early years Carla mentioned she’d like a door in a dining room wall. Phil went downstairs and got a drywall knife and next thing she knew there was a hole in the wall. Problem was there were wires there and they had to turn the electricity off. They were in the darkness with rubble on the floor where her parents showed up unexpectedly.

She laughed, “You never knew what would happen around here.”

“He truly was my soul mate,” she said. They were together just over 35 years. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”