Jose Luis Sanchez

West Point, 1965

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Joe Barkley on April 26, 2020:

Eulogy for Jose Sanchez - Classmate USMA 1965 I did not know Jose (Joe) Sanchez well. We were in different regiments; different branches and had widely different assignments. In the 1980s we came in contact a few times through the West Point Society of Philadelphia before I began working in New York City. But Joe inspired me through his actions in the Philadelphia area and the Army Navy games to work on getting more classmates together and reconnecting. Joe always seemed to be working in the background to bring about social events and meetings and keep the classmates connected. A group of us who live in the Eastern PA and NJ area had started to get together for a periodic lunch, at Fred Smith's urging. For the first lunch, Joe actually had to drive the furthest to get there; about 75 miles -- a long way for a lunch. Based on my being inspired by Joe's earlier efforts at organizing informal lunches and dinners in the area, I urged this group to continue this. At the most recent lunch, I told Joe that he inspired me to continue his work to organize those connections. As I leaned close to him with my arm around his shoulder, I said that "we all need to reconnect as we don't know when we will need each other's help again." I wish that statement had not been so prophetic. "Well Done, Jose. Rest in Peace.

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