James Creighton Gleason

West Point, 1966

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jared Kennedy on January 24, 2020:

If you�ve not yet seen it, I highly recommend the exceptional obituary composed bythe family. You can find it online. If you re not an internet person I suggest you ask someone to print it for you. Access to a child or grandchild will almost certainly do. I want to share with you just a few fragments of my experience with Jim, which began maybe 15 or 16 years ago shortly after Gloria and I returned to Gainesville in 2001. We, Jim and I, shared several common denominators. We are of the same era. Our education experience was similar and by most reckonings singular. Mine at Navy, Jim at West Point. The rivalry is famous. The common bond of service is less familiar and more subtle but remarkably strong -- wide and deep. In any event I knew a lot about Jimbefore we ever met. I visited West Point as a midshipman about this time of year in 1960. Grey skies, grey walls, grey uniforms, and the Hudson, a greenish-grey, seemed to funnel a bitter cold damp wind. I wondered "How do these guys do this?" They did it and they do it still. Jim did it. Viet Nam was raging. Jim went. His career in the Army was one of commitment, engagement, and exemplary, effective leadership. He clearly was the sort of officer West Point was at pains to produce and in this man they certainly did. Be sure to see the obituary. We have a small service academy alumni group in Gainesville -- Jim was a regular. We were members of the old Retired Officers Association, now rebranded as MOAA. Jim and Candy were a "set", mainstays of leadership there and they are missed still. We met with a no-name group for breakfast at Brown�s on third Wednesdays. Veterans and service to veterans dominated Jim�s real retirement years, after all those other retirements, in Gainesville. He has left an enduring mark. It always brightened my day to run into Jim. He was consistently himself. Comfortable in his own skin, a little pushy for the things important to him, confident, affable and to me an exceptionally appealing man -- a top performer throughout his life, the quintessential comrade in arms. And devoted to his family. He was an exemplary officer and citizen - and a superb and very easy, very dear friend. He personified the concepts of Duty-Honor-Country. His bottom line. Always. Jared P. Kennedy Captain, USN (RET) USNA 1961

admin