As Bob Brace said at our Memorial Service yesterday, I have no choice when asked by a classmate but to serve. And Bob's dilemma as to what to say involves how best to serve, not whether to serve.
Service is our responsibility and an honor.
I too hope that I will have something meaningful and appropriate to say to you. But I have come to realize that what we have to say is never as important as our willingness to bear witness to one another. I wish only that I had had the three weeks' notice Bob received. I received a call from Marv five minutes before I departed the house to drive up here three days ago. I have known of God in my life in a personal and direct way since I was 4 years old.