Posted by Lee Jackson on September 23, 2003:

Jesus, He was a man's man. I first saw him when he knocked out an opponent in intramural boxing during plebe year. The guy he beat was a friend of mine, so I did not think to kindly of him. Three years later, we met outside the library. He was coming up the stairs from Thayer Hall. I knew who he was because he and my (then) fiancee Barbara, both lived in the Dominican Republic. She knew him from having observed him board an airplane in full uniform ahead of a line of waiting people who were then turned back because the plane was full. "I know you!" I exclaimed when I saw his name tag, and related the story. He laughed, and in his disarming way acknowledged his use of preferential treatment. I learned that that behavior was a rarety. He was noble and humble, and his care of honor and justice were profound. He met and married my wife's sister, Gloria. We became like brothers. While still at the Academy, we ran together in the early morning hours. He loved his country (the Dominican Republic), and his benefactor country (the United States). When he was brutally shot by petty thieves, we were in far-off Germany. The reality of his death was surreal. It could not have happened to someone with so much promise. Despite arriving in Santo Domingo within 24 hours, we were too late; he had already been buried. The front page newspaper in Santo Domingo called his death the "loss of a national treasure." For us, the wound has never healed. When we speak of him, we choke, and the eyes tear. He was our daughter's godfather, my best friend, a brother, a brother-in-law, a comrade ... and irreplaceable. Years ago, I promised Gloria that I would write such a eulogy. Only time has eased the pain to the extent that I have done so. I feel that I cannot do it justice. Jesus, we miss and love you. The Dominican Republic lost a national treasure, and so did we.

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