[19698] in APO-L
Memories that make you smile
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (JimBeKind@AOL.COM)
Wed Dec 2 09:00:33 1998
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 1998 09:00:03 EST
Reply-To: JimBeKind@AOL.COM
From: JimBeKind@AOL.COM
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
It is a simple collage -- photographs, mostly in color, of moments captured in
my APO past. There is one of my intramural volleyball team, the Run-To-Pitt
relay race project, the Jaycees Haunted House.
But one picture has become my favorite. It was taken in November 1985. It is
black-and-white. In the picture is a much younger, much more slender me in
jeans and a sweatshirt. Beside me, with his arm around me, is the National
President of my Fraternity -- his name was Earle Herbert.
I was lucky. I got to meet Earle as a pledge two years earlier; I got to know
him the following year at the National Convention in 1984 when he asked me to
nominate his choice for Vice President. He was an amazingly accessible man
who, I suspect, never realized how highly he was regarded by thousands of us.
Over the years, I came to know and love so much about him: always wearing a
pledge pin, his crooked smile and even more twisted wit, and mostly his
thoughtful answer to any question posed -- no matter how simple to him it
seemed, he weighed and measured his response based on how important the answer
was to YOU. Most of my memories of him are very personal and meaningful only
to me now. But I certainly not alone -- that's why the National Friendship
Award now bears his name.
I miss him. Earle died of AIDS.
Last night I attended the WORLD AIDS DAY service here in Pittsburgh, PA.
During the service, the ushers handed out decals and pens. They asked us to
write on the decals the names of those lost in the fight against the pandemic
and place them on a huge white circle at the front of the church. I wrote
"Earle Herbert." I read about Ryan White, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Glaser; I
watched Pedro Zamora; but I knew Earle. He made AIDS real to me and hundreds
of others, announcing his condition publicly at our convention. He carried
himself with dignity and left a generous legacy behind.
This year's theme for WORLD AIDS DAY was "A Force for Change." Earle was one.
I try to be one. Are you? I know it is finals week for many, but I hope if
your chapter doesn't already do a project for AIDS education, awareness, or
support that you will do one next year. If your chapter does one -- take part.
I believe Earle will be smiling his crooked smile and watching us.
- Jim Hahn, proud alumnus
Lambda Omicron Chapter
West Virginia University
(Fall '83 - R. L. "Pops" Brittain Class)
