Update:
Rick did show at the reunion. And the experience was positive.
After I saw that he was not inclined to quickly avoid my presence, I took him aside and just asked him straight out; "Have you been 'shunning' me? And do you intend to continue doing so?" He denied that he had in fact been so doing - though the lack of answers to letters and calls seemed to indicate otherwise to me. He told me he loved me dearly, and we had a long long discussion on the matter of friendship and association with those whom we have known and cared about all our lives. I could see that he has diverged tremendously from the strict Jw stance on such matters. We in fact spent most of the reunion together. He is tightly caught up in the Jw religion on many levels yet, and his health is not terrific [ he has diabetes and had a quintuple bypass surgery two years back ]. I doubt that had other Jw's been anywhere close that he would have so freely associated with me, but I submit that as pure 'survival' if he had elected to remain Jw.
Afterward, I was speaking to a distant cousin who has become a Nazarene Pastor now, and he was appalled that Rick spoke with me, having become very familiar with the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses while in school to become a pastor. So even outsiders noticed that he has bypassed the Jw ritual shunning in my case.
I am very happy with the way it turned out. His wife did not attend, and things might have been somewhat more restricted had she been there. All in all - very good news. I even told him of my first communion at the local church this morning and we had a nice discussion about that too.
Good news. I believe that if I am careful not to upset the cart, we will be able to continue our lifelong friendship, though we may have to keep it a little quiet since he desires to stay a jw.
Jeff
