NOTE FROM JERRY BALL '65

Gloria,

Thought you might be interested in this obituary for the mother of former RHS football coach Robert Mickler.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/obituaries/stories/MYSA020307.06B.Obit_Mickler.192f52f.html

Different subject (but perhaps inspired by the fact I now read the obituary column daily!). I experienced an occasion that a lot of our contemporaries have gone or are going through - on Monday I turned 60. Other people seem to have handled that milestone better than I did.

I took the day off to mope over my lost youth.

Turned out okay though. On my day off, I drove about an hour and a half north of the place where I live to see the National Museum of the Pacific War (a WWII museum housed where Admiral Nimitz grew up). I watched the exhibits and thought about the young folks who never got a chance to turn 60 as a result of that war. Then I thought about our era and the fifty thousand who lost their opportunity to grow old because of Vietnam. And the troops who are serving us today around the world who have paid or may pay the price of that service. All of a sudden, turning 60 seemed like a gift.

A gift - like still being in contact with so many of the "kids" I walked the high school halls with - even after all these years. Friendships of long standing are especially sweet. For my year at Randolph, you are the lynchpin to keeping us all connected. Again, I thank you for that.

Hope things are going well for you.

God bless.

Jerry