Posted by Jack Price on July 6, 2009:

When Art was a Military Art instructor at West Point in the early sixties, I was a cadet, Class of 1964, sitting in those soft padded chairs in Thayer Hall, trying to stay awake. I still remember a lecture he gave about the Civil War. Susan and Art lived in a set of quarters just down the road from where the Catholic Chapel is located. At first, cadets and officers are oil and water, but, as the days roll by, some life long friendships and bonds are formed. I must admit, my attraction was greatly aided by Art's very attractive wife, Susan. This was back in the days when there were no women cadets, and we were incarcerated inside the walls until the following summer. My time at West Point was much different once I was included in the folds of Art's family! In the fullness of time, Art and Susan went to Monterey's Language School and I went to Ft Lewis to begin my career as an infantryman. I was welcomed in their homes in Tempe AZ and Monterey. I followed Art to Viet Nam, serving with the 173rd Airborne, next to where Art was working with the Vietnamese as an advisor. I remember especially the night he invited me over to a French colonial era restaurant on the banks of the Song Dong Nai. We had a short layover from combat operations, and I was able to accept. The steak was a bit suspect, but the evening view across the still waters remains more in my memory than any other Viet Nam landscape. Our unit had taken a lot of casualties, and he was concerned about my well being. He lamented that were we were bearing such heavy responsibilities, so young, and inexperienced. I was still a second lieutenant platoon leader. I imagine he was remembering his own classmates during the Korean War. Same song, different verse. A generation later, found Art and Susan, and our daughter, Megan, all in Austin. On a trip out to Austin, Megan and I stopped in the see them and look at Susan's latest paintings. There is a seascape that has hung in our house since Susan painted it in Monterey, and Megan received a lithograph of another painting on her marriage to Ken, which now hangs in her Austin home. The last time we were in Austin, we put out a net call for all '64 classmates to gather at Megan's home, and invited Art and Susan. It was the first time since West Point that Art had seen many of them, and he enjoyed stitching these old faces to the young cadets he had taught, and hearing their life stories. I remember hoping that my wife, Sam, and I, would as vibrant as the two of them, in fifteen years! It was the last time I would see Art. Our lives were intertwined, through war and peace, through three generations of the two families. My life was much enriched by knowing Art, and when I think of the Long Gray Line, I reflect that, rather than stretching in a straight line across the parade ground, it really is more like this story; twisting and turning through time and space, but always centered on West Point. I wanted to tell Art the last time I saw him, how much I have appreciated his tolerance of my affection over the years for his beautiful wife, Susan. But, I didn't. Art, I hope you're reading this! Jack Price '64

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