[Tamaroa]

Hi All,

Thanks for your thoughts. I went to the viewing today and was completely humbled by the experience. It is not often that it is made so clear how you impact the lives of others. Today was one of those days. Rodger's wife and children were very happy to see me there. Then they went on to describe the day of his death. his family said they wished that I had been there because he apparently went on and on about some of the crazed things we did together. One such thing was that we drove 150 miles round trip in a driving rain storm just to visit the grave of Rear Admiral John Worden who commanded the Monitor in her historic fight with the Virginia.

After that visit we decided to carry American flags in our cars at all times; now the next time we see Civil War graves without a flag we would be prepared.

We were inseparable on the weekends to the point where my wife once remarked that Rodger would be a correspondent in a divorce case if I weren't careful. We traipsed all over the county searching for Civil War era landmarks. We did almost anything we set our sights on. The one thing we did not get done was an attempt to create a museum for Rockland county honoring all of her veterans. Rodger was a Viet Nam vet as well as a Civil War buff. He was in Intelligence. Did not say much else about it.

I've already taken up to much time, but so many of you are like an extended family to me, I felt I could lean on you for a while.

Thanks,

Bill