Larry Moore, Ithica New York

Dear Rick, I have been thinking about you and your Mom over the holiday season.  The first Christmas without your Dad must have been difficult.  Your Dad was all about family.  That is how I remember him.  I was at your Mom and Dad’s wedding.  It’s odd that I can remember the occasion.  It was surely the first wedding I ever attended.  It turned out to be a good introduction to the whole solemn business of joining your life to that of another person.  Your Mom and Dad had a remarkable companionate union—an example of sharing lives in the best possible ways.  I wish I had been party to more of it.  I remember visits in Boston, in California, and in Houston.  You weren’t always there.  Still, when your Mom was in the room, or when you or your siblings were in the room, nothing else mattered to your Dad.  Your Dad never talked to me about his distinguished career.  He always seemed to have projects—none more impressive that his collection of wine and everything that went with wine.  Those projects centered on the home, and I always felt included in that magic circle.  Maybe I learned from your Dad that however important the work, it has to be kept at a distance.   Your Dad was fun.  He was a gentleman.  And even to this relative stranger, he made you want to be a better human being.