Vane Quentin Bates

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Frank Celowski Armour on June 27, 2013:

Well, old plebe year roomie, you beat me to the "bar"...the few months that we spent together bonding as roommates will have to wait awhile before we can renew our bonding...but then maybe we are already, creating a far better one, not fettered by the exigencies and agendas of material life...anyway, let's start working on it. In that sense, let me begin by thanking you for extending yourself back in 1996, by inviting me to join you, John Sloan and George Page to a small Class get together at the Harriman Estate and an Army-Air Force game (we won). After many years of Class inactivity, that event prompted me to renew other Class friendships. But I think that the thing that impressed me most is when you and Anna were traveling and you came across a desk calendar that had wine notations on each page. You remembered my wine cellar, and you carried that calendar back home and mailed it to me with a nice note. What struck about this generosity was the time and trouble that it took you. It was a small thing, but still a very big thing. While traveling for IBM, I stayed at Marriott hotels. Bill Marriott had a copy of both the Bible and Book of Mormon placed in the rooms of his hotels, and I read both Books...so I got to understand something of your religion. You are a fine and true witness to the Latter Day Saints and the faith in God that that religion has engendered in you. Let's keep in touch. Frank P.S. That was a swell Eulogy you wrote for Echol Hayes, especially the part about how I protected my roommates from the upperclassmen. F

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