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AUTHOR Alan grew up in Arkan- sas and was raised in the Presbyterian Church. His family attended Presbyte- rian services every Sun- day. He recalls think- ing that attending the services every Sunday was “a pain in the butt.” At the Naval Academy, he was required to at- tend chapel services every Sunday and he still thought the services were “a pain in the butt.” While at sea, under the night sky on the rolling ocean, Alan recalls looking up at the vast universe wondering “how did we get here” and he began to think “what is my relationship with God?” Patricia is a devout Roman Catholic. Alan has not joined the Catholic Church, but regularly attends the Catholic Church with her. After Governor Dukakis’ defeat in 1988, Alan felt de- jected. He shared his despair with a Catholic priest friend. The priest suggested he go to St. Joseph’s Ab- bey outside of Worcester, Massachusetts where he would be confronted with ten days of silence. Patricia was not sure how he would tolerate the silence. The ten days were life changing. Alan said he stopped shouting at God and started listening. When Alan returned to Florida, he shared his ex- perience with his wife. They both attended a silent retreat at St. Leo’s Abbey, just outside of Tampa. As he entered the Abbey, he was given a book by one of the brothers written by the Japanese Catho- lic author Shusaku Endo. From then on, Alan was motivated to write. Alan’s first book, Choices and Challenges – Lessons in Faith, Hope, and Love, was published in 2009. His second book, God Is, was published in 2019. Alan states that he wrote God Is with a lawyer’s analytical mind. He started from the idea of the Big Bang The- ory, moved to physics, genetics, evolution, and then to historical events supporting his argument that there has to be an intelligent creator and that cre- ator is God. Alan asserts the circumstantial evidence overwhelmingly establishes that the universe could not have been created by accident. Alan writes: The driving forces that both created and ejected all those par- ticles outward from nothing – as part of that initial explo- sion – had to be exactly balanced against the force of gravity, which winked into existence at the same time. If the outward explosive push had been too strong, the universe-wide plasma field of matter particles that burst into existence would have dispersed like gas in a void. If, on the other hand, the coun- tervailing gravitational forces that likewise suddenly appeared and began pulling against that expansion had been greater than they were, the plasma would have collapsed back in on itself under the gravity’s pull. Either way, there would have been no material universe as we now observe it in the heavens above us. Longtime atheist Dave Barry, the humorist and Alan’s neighbor, writes: In God Is, Alan Greer makes the case – sweeping and impas- sioned, for the existence of a benevolent God. As a longtime atheist, I was challenged by his arguments and intrigued by his conclusions, which carry profound implications for the future of humanity. Interestingly, Alan’s upcoming third book will be a fictional telling of the life of Jesus. Alan will focus on those portions of Jesus’ life that we know northing about. As a result, Alan points out, nobody will be able to question the accuracy of his writing. INVOLVEMENT WITH THE COLLEGE After he was inducted at the Annual Meeting in London in 1992, Alan has been consistently active in the College and has made lifelong friends throughout the country. Alan has represented the College in litigation. The College had paid a hotel in Miami a substantial deposit to hold a number of rooms for an upcoming meeting. The hotel was undergoing significant renovations and eventually told the College that the rooms would not be available. For some reason the hotel did not believe it had to return the College’s deposit. Alan stepped in and told the hotel the College would bring suit to have its room deposit refunded. The hotel refunded the money. Alan believes Fellows should play a role in mentoring young lawyers to help them develop trial skills. We all have “dog” cases and he advis- es young lawyers to try those cases, noting “You will learn much more from losing a tough case than by winning an easy case.” The trial bar is too full of what Alan calls pretrial lawyers who never really try any cases. He has seen the color drain out of those lawyers’ faces when the judge says, “let’s go pick a jury” as they are generally terrified of an actual jury trial. The heritage of the College is rich, thanks to the likes of Alan Greer. Ron McLean Fargo, ND Heritage Committee member Celeste Siblez Higgins was a major contributor to this project. SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 88