Paul Murrell! Received news of your demise early this month. Had been receiving updates from your wonderful wife, Nell and your equally wonderful daughter, Jennifer but then, it happened. Deeply sorry but it seems to have gone quickly and hopefully without too much suffering. Julie and I were fortunate to make the trip to San Antonio for your services. Our old pal Bob Bunker and his wife, Barbara had made arrangements to join us but had to cancel at the last minute as his sister, "Peggy" Bunker had been suddenly hospitalized in critical condition. (She passed shortly after so be nice to her when she shows up at the Gates okay?)
Great to see your family again after so long. I recall we last scheduled a Spring trip to visit you and others in late 2020, but Covid messed that up. We even ate the cost of that Southwest Air trip eventually. As it turned out, we planned several subsequent Spring trips but as you know, various health issues here caused postponements.
I do want to let you know your family appears to have held up well. Nell, to us, appeared as a "profile in courage." She was outgoing and gracious to all who attended your services and internment. Same went for all your other family members. I recall a fine crowd of old friends and relatives showed as well, including a bunch of our old fellow Air Force Medical Service Corps pals.
Your services were damn good too, although I think the new priest talked too much. At one point, my phone, which I was sure was silenced, rang and I apologize for that. I quickly turned it off and after a bit, leaned over to Julieann and whispered, "That was Paul calling." There were some fine tributes spoken by your son Warren and two of your grandsons. Plus, one of your family Boudreaux's played some beautiful piano and sang for you. One of his songs, "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," was very familiar. In the 50's and early 60's a large chunk of my Campbell family, all auto factory workers, lived in and around Pontiac, Michigan. There were so many of us, we would rent a hall for family gatherings. There would be a feast of course then the musicians and singers in the family would serenade us with traditional folk and religious music. That song was one of them every time.
After the service, Nell and the gang had arranged a lunch buffet in a hall behind the church. It was Texas-style with seasoned tri-tip, sausage, creamed corn, barbecued beans and such. The beef was tender and the 'fixin's all hit the spot.
Then, we formed a police-escorted caravan, led by you of course, to the cemetery at Fort Sam Houston. The ride went smooth Paul. I was really impressed with the expert maneuvering of the motorcyclists as they kept us moving through the 15 miles or so of fairly heavy traffic and often narrow streets from the church to the fort. Part of the route took us right by Olmos Park where our old mutual pal, Ben Buecker lives. At the cemetery pavilion, you rested there for a moment while the honor guard fired your salute and the airmen folded and presented Nell with the American flag that had draped your coffin. I clearly recall the weather was perfect, with a gentle breeze flowing through our spot and over you. I was able to give your coffin a final pat as I considered writing you this note.
To catch you up on our visits after, that evening we went to our gangs old standby Mexican restaurant, the Alamo Cafe for a visit and dinner with Don and Andrea Palen. Good food and great company let us catch up on events with their family.
On Tuesday, we visited Randolph Air Force, photographing our old home and surroundings on base. We took a picture of the main boulevard through housing toward the theater too. In the middle, a long sidewalk where I taught son Tyler to ride a bike. Also the Officer's Club a couple of blocks away where Tyler, age 7 or 8, got busted by the Security Police for climbing around on its roof. The area, at one time was green and clean. I have to tell you Paul, it is run down now, dried out and dirty. Pretty sure this is all due to contracting out the old landscape services instead of leaving responsibility with Civil Engineering. It took real-time direct control away from Commanders and the news has been around for some time about how housing in general has deteriorated.
That night, Don and Andrea and their son Sean hosted us for some great dinner and fellowship where we swapped a ton of lies about old memories from over 37 years ago. Their son Sean, my one-time inner city math teacher hero, was with us too.
The next day, we took our pal of almost 60 years to lunch and dinner near his home in old Olmos Park. Ben Buecker is, as you recall, our favorite attorney of all time. He's getting on in years though as we all are. Ben still has a whacky sense of humor and yet is still, when prompted, able to accurately recall past events and our adventures. We left pretty worried about his welfare even though he's being closely watched and cared for by his sister-in-law Frances. Unfortunately, Frances is experiencing health issues as well so we are thinking the situation is pretty unstable. Getting Ben into some sort of daycare, with few remaining relatives and none in the area, seems impossible since his home in ways serves as a shrine to his departed wife, Cindy.
Paul, something you may not know about Ben, is he'll be joining you at Fort Sam one of these days. Cindy is already buried there. That privilege is the result of Ben's serving as honorary counsel for Germany in the state of Texas for a number of years. I believe this, in turn, was an honor given largely as a result of his providing Texas law internships to over 300 aspiring young German lawyers. I think it may have also been the result of Ben introducing them to the finer aspects of Mexican food and Shiner Bock beer. The site on Fort Sam contains the remains of German POWs who were in a prison camp there in WWII and Ben will join Cindy next to them.
The next day, Wednesday, Julie and I took a little break and took a boat ride through the San Antonio Riverwalk. The pick up and drop off point was only a few steps from our hotel. We were dazzled by how well it is maintained and the blend of historical and modern architecture. It was a huge improvement over the last time we toured sometime in 1985. Then, we spent a few hours at Ben's.
That evening, Nell and Jennifer joined us for dinner at San Antonio's self-proclaimed "best restaurant, Blu." It was a touching time of reminiscing and laughter for all four of us and Paul, you got the best of it. We parted with tears and the hope we would all meet again. If that does happen, I promise to make up some new lies about you.
Rest In Peace My Dear Friend, Confidante and Colleague,
See you when I see you.
