E. Graham Forrest

West Point, 1965

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by A Ross Wollen on April 8, 2014:

I write having just heard of Bo's passing and thought I'd refer to Graham (which I preferred), as Bo and explain it was what he chose after our Spanish "P" first called upon Mr. "Bosque", spanish for Forest. Few Cadets get to name their own nickname as Bo did. I'm Ross Wollen '65. I was Bo's Corps Squad tennis doubles partner for most of 4 years. While very few of even our top Ivy opponents could beat the Ohrlein Brothers at no. 1 (now in the Hall of Fame), Bo and I played pretty consistently as Army #2 doubles. This despite having singles players who were better than we were. It would now be called a certain "Chemistry", not a subject in which Bo or I excelled. Our teams were quite strong back then and Bo and I beat Navy more than a couple of times. And then there was squash - no doubles but we both played and often travelled to opponent colleges as roommates. I'll simply say that it was a plus to join Bo as he made the rounds of various sororities; his accent becoming more southern as we went. In a rare cool partner interplay, Bo once chewed me out for not having a firm handshake "like my Daddy taught me". I protested that it was unnecessary to crunch your partner's hand ...but for 50 years and as recently as last week, that admonishment stayed with me to his credit. Thanks Bo. At the '65 20th Reunion Bo, I and our ladies had a special private brunch at the cabin of Bird & Bottle Inn across the Hudson in Garrison. I had hoped to duplicate that with Bo at our 50th. But the B&B, much older than our USMA, just closed. In Bo we also witness the departure too soon of a Classmate of great and well deserved stature and rich and fascinating memories. God speed Partner. Ross '65

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