I did learn of somebody after I had already gotten sober. A guy named Danny, he was the son of my parents' friends.
Danny was 15 years older than me, when I was a kid he was already in his early 20s. He was the epitome of your stereotypical cool guy from the 80s. Feathered hair, drove a Camaro, hot blond girlfriend, it was like something out of a movie. I idolized this guy as a kid. He was always nice to me but whenever his family threw parties he would get completely drunk. It would horrify my young impressionable self when he got wasted, it was like he wasn't even human.
The last time I saw him personally was in 1996 at his nephew's baptism. He was a sad, disheveled, bloated mess. Far cry from the guy I had looked up to.
Danny died sometime last year. My mother told me that he had been homeless and in and out of jail. For being in his mid 50s he looked much older, the years had not been kind to him.
Just typing this out and thinking about my childhood memories of the cool guy is depressing to me. Not all of us get saved.