Posted by Gene and Jan Madigan on July 14, 2011:

Following are some of the fond memories we have of our friendship with Bobbie and Don. Although Don has left us much too soon, in our minds and hearts, he is still with us. In 1980 my husband, Gene, and I moved in next door to Bobbie and Don at Ft. Monroe, VA. When we were reassigned, we kept up our friendship by visiting each other at Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Benjamin Harrison. When our wonderful years in the Army came to an end, Gene and I, being New Englanders, settled in New Hampshire which was fine with Don as he liked nothing better than visiting New England in the fall before and after his beloved West Point football games. And, of course, we made our way to their homes in North and South Carolina, plus Don and Darcy's place "The Goose" in Colorado. While Bobbie and Gene were doing their crossword puzzles and sudoku, Don would fill me in on all the tricks of traveling - especially Space Available and their Travel Club which they convinced us to join. He loved telling about all the wonderful people they had met in the terminals while waiting for flights. For a man who was so organized, it was fun to hear about the times that things didn't go exactly as planned like the time they were supposed to go to Iceland but Don somehow forgot his passport. No problem! They went a week later, made friends with someone in the terminal who lived there, and who gave them a car to use. With Don's infectious laugh, things always seemed to work out. He never met a stranger, life was an adventure, and who knew what was around the next corner. One of Don's great joys was his motor home. One of our favorite stories is about how that almost didn't happen. He and Bobbie had made the decision to buy one, and Bobbie had started buying dishes, etc. Don started looking at the "bottom line" and trying to back out. At that point gentle, sweet Bobbie opened the backdoor of their home in Raleigh and started throwing the dishes into the trees - they bought the motor home and started their trips of adventure. In September 2008 we spent five weeks together in Germany, Switzerland, and France. Don and Gene made a great team as Don loves to drive and Gene loves nothing better than having a map in his lap. And being a gadget guy, Don had their GPS "Heidi" along to help. Don's favorite country is Germany, and he loved the feeling of being able to speed down the Autobahn. Thankfully, we had read a blurb in a military magazine saying that if you were going over 80 mph and had an accident, your insurance company might not cover you. With Don's background in Finance, the brakes were put on. And we always had to be on the lookout for the best gas prices - a game with Don probably because of the motor home. A highlight of our trip was our week long self-drive canal boat trip on the Canal du Midi in Southern France - great food, wine, card games, more wine, and wonderful salads made by Bobbie for lunch. Gene was the official captain as we used to have a sailboat, but Don was a great crew handling the lines as we made our way through the locks. And after the first few hours of having Gene bounce us off the roots of the plane trees, Don, who had a lighter touch on the wheel, spent hours giving us a smooth ride down the canal. We will miss having the phone ring with Don on the other end saying, "guess where we are"! It might be a military terminal with him reading all the exciting places they could fly to, or an aircraft museum, or, best of all, saying "do you want to go (fill in the blank) with us". In fact we had plans to meet up with them in Italy in October to "do" Cinque Terre, and Spain and Portugal next year. We will continue to visit and travel with Bobbie, and I know that we will have endless "Don stories" - a friend with a great gift for friendship and love of life who will be truly missed! "They are not dead who live in the lives that they leave behind. In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again". Don, you will always live through your family and their loving memories of you.

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