IN MEMORIAM
Since our last Issue, we have learned of the passing of ninety-one Fellows.
You might notice that this is a significantly greater number than usual, and
no, this is not cause for alarm. It is simply the result of diligence by the National
Office to find Fellows whose deaths had not been reported.
)
We can only honor those we know have passed, when we know. We do not charge
retired Fellows dues, so we don’t think much about not hearing from them. But
it occurred to the National Office Staff that we should do a little research on Fellows
admitted to Fellowship thirty-five or more years ago from whom we haven’t
heard for a while – and that shook out seventy names of departed Fellows
who passed as long ago as 2008 that we missed – because no one told us.
)
These seventy Fellows are a pretty amazing group. There is one who served as a Federal Judge
for forty-four years. An amazing fifty of the seventy are vets, twenty-one of them having
served in World War II; we have a vet who earned a bronze star, another who qualified to
command destroyers and submarines. Three – three – who each managed thousand-lawyer
firms, each of which have multiple Fellows – how could those active Fellows not have
told us their former Chairmen had passed? One was a key advisor to the State Department
in the resolution of the Iran Hostage Crisis. How could we have missed their passing?
)
Well, now they are found. They will be missed – in the proper way,
with these brief memoriams. Please help us. When you learn that a Fellow
has passed, please assure that the National Office is informed.
)
This total group of ninety-one departed Fellows ranged in age from sixty-one
– way too young – to ninety-eight – still far too soon. They all died too young.
We will miss them all. Fifty-eight served their country in uniform, twenty-four
of them in World War II. Eight were judges. Nine were college athletes.
These pieces are necessarily brief. We don’t have space to list all surviving family members, so we name only
spouses; we count but do not name children or grandchildren. Yet every one of our departed Fellows left scores of
family and friends who will miss and remember them. Through those memories, these Fellows live on.
65 JOURNAL