Recipe(tried): A Tribute to an Old School Chum...

Good Morning,

We arrived yesterday from spending two lovely days at the Longboat Key Resort in Sarasota. The weather, needless to say, was just beautiful.

I had a lot of catching up to day as my Mom saved me the newspapers...as I was reading the section in the Tampa Tribune that is titled Names Added, I was jolted...there was a name from my childhood; Wally P. Travers, Jr. Age 44. Could it be the Wally I knew in grade school? Quickly I went to retrieve my old 8th grade yearbook from St. John's School...and I was thinking, "no, it couldn't be him, his last name was maybe Travis?" I flipped thru the pages until I came to his picture, and the name underneath said it all. Oh, I was so heartbroken!

You see, Wally was our class clown, this guy could make you laugh, he always had a wisecrack, a joke. Oh, don't get me wrong, Wally was very bright. He also played ice-hockey with the guys we used to hang around with up Jacobus Place. He was a tall, lanky guy for his age. Big, soft brown deer eyes and awfully sweet. But boy, he could make you laugh!!! I am so proud to read that he worked for Cantor Fitzgerald as a broker...he grew up and made something of himself...he sure must have all those guys in stitches every day.

Sooner or later, as the clean-up gets underway, and more people are found, we will know of someone we knew, someone who touched our lives. What a profound loss for his family and friends....Wally, may you rest in peace my old friend. I know in my heart you are in Heaven making the other angels laugh today....