Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tee-Jay taught me to listen beyond the words. Each of us
expresses ourselves differently. Sometimes when I listened to him, I could almost hear the echo of a football stadium, or a Navy briefing room, or his kids and grandkids in the background.
It is a bit ironic that he had a heart attack. He had such a big
heart and fought so passionately for those people and beliefs that he loved, I thought certainly his heart and his strength of will would carry him through anything. I guess the Lord, however, had a different plan.
He was loyal and a man of his word. Those are traits I have
found that are common in a lot of La Porte folks. Tee-Jay was a text book example. He was loyal to his family, his community, his
country, and his faith. If he said he would do something, it would be done and not just done marginally, but done well.
Behind the scenes, he put in a huge amount of work on our
high school reunions. Printing the badges, scanning yearbooks, matching names and photos for each year from 64 to 69 is not a small task. He took it on almost single handed.
I hope that Marty knows how much we appreciated her support. Working on the reunions was something that he really wanted to do. I don't think he could, or would have done it without her help.
Thank you Tee-Jay, I'm going to miss you.
