Posted by Andrew Favret on February 2, 2006:

Some Memories of Richard Louis Haley A good friend is a priceless gift. Rich Haley and I were close friends for over 60 years. Rich and I first got to know each other as plebes at West Point in 1942. He was from Dayton, Ohio. I was from Cincinnati; but, before West Point I attended the University of Dayton along with Dick Smith, a friend and high-school classmate of Rich and a West Point classmate of ours. We didn't realize it then, but our lives were destined to be closely linked. We were different in many ways. During our 3 years at West Point, Rich had very few demerits and never walked a single hour (punishment tour) on the area. I was what was known as an " area bird " and probably walked hundreds of hours on the area during those years. Also Rich was always friendly and gregarious. My wife, Loretta, often tells the story of the day she first met the two of us (sort of a double blind date). Her thought that day: " How did I get stuck with the quiet one! " One way in which we were both very much the same. We were blessed with a very strong Faith and a love for the Catholic Church. Three years after graduation (1948) we were both assigned to attend the University of Pennsylvania In Philadelphia working toward a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. We decided to save money by rooming together. Also, we were bachelor officers then, so we plotted how we could take advantage of this opportunity and meet some " nice ", young local ladies in the Philadelphia area. That led to the blind date mentioned above. Once I started dating Loretta, she introduced Rich to her close friend and classmate, Peggy Jacobson. Guess what? About a year later there were two weddings in Philadelphia. We both spent our second year at Penn as married men! With no planning on our part, we were both assigned to the First Guided Missile Group at Fort Bliss, Texas. Our first children were born in El Paso. I could go on with many stories-how the Haley's put us up when we first moved to Washington in 1955, how we found the house for them in Mount Vernon, or the time both families shared a place at Bethany Beach one summer(1978). But I want to focus on two incidents when we were really " there " for each other. The first took place in 1956 around the birth of our son, Patrick. Pat came about a month before we expected him and I was on a trip to Fort Huachuca, Ariz. (south of Tucson). When Loretta went into serious labor in the middle of night, the Haley's came immediately and drove her to Georgetown Hospital. (Peggy even brought towels and water) Pat was born about 15 minutes after arrival at the hospital and, appropriately, Pat became their Godchild. A few minutes after the birth, Rich called me in Arizona and startled me with the news.I frantically flew back to Washington. That was a happy event. The next incident surrounded a tragic event. That afternoon Rich was visiting Harry Diamond Laboratories only a block or two from our house in Silver Spring, Md. He called to say that he would stop by late in the afternoon before he went home. When he arrived we were surprised to see two men with him. They were Park Police. They had just told him that Peggy was killed in an automobile accident. He was in shock! He was in no condition to drive home.I ended up driving him around the Beltway and home in order to start telling the children what happened. Loretta followed in another car. What a blessing it was that we were so close in this time of need To fully appreciate these stories you need to know that both families were blessed with 11 wonderful children. Our children called him Uncle Richard and the Haleys called me Uncle Andy.

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