My grandfather, Colonel William Arthur Dwight, 88 years old, passed away August 10th in the hospital in Texarkana, Texas about 11:15 pm Central Time. He was a a strong and remarkable man. At only 12 years old he took his mother by the hand and they left my abusive great-grandfather. By 18 he was in college and ROTC and had a 30 year army career. At one point he was the most decorated military man from the state of Michigan. He was tall and physically strong, and movie star gorgeous. He and my grandmother made sure that my brother and I got through college without owing a dime. He liked a good conversation, but wouldn't have it if someone was wasting a moment of his time. The summer I was 12, he taught me all the metric/English measurement conversions, because knowing them in 'the future' was important. He also taught me how to drive that summer, on an old, orange VW bug. I was excellent at shifting gears at the time, but wasn't so good at the actual driving part! The one time we ground the gears that summer, he said that he messed up and that I had done it right.

Gordon and I will be heading to Texas, and I'm doing fine so far through this. I haven't gotten much sleep the last couple of nights, but that is more a factor of caffeine than from the news. Please keep my grandfather and the rest of the family (and me!) in your prayers.