Old Friends

I'd like to break away from the usual blog article to write a personal tribute to a couple of old friends we lost this past weekend. Every time I think about old friends, I think about the old Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Ray Price song, "Old Friends". "Lord when all my work is done, bless my life and grant me one, old friend…at least one…old friend."

Matt and I just got back tonight from saying good-bye to an old friend in Lyons, Larry Hasler. I first met Larry when I played against his Switz City teams quite a few years ago. Since that time I have seen him referee and officiate too many games to remember. He was there at volleyball games when my girls were playing and basketball when my boys were playing. I always made it a point to tell Larry of at least one call or two that I thought were questionable after the games were over, just so he knew I was there and paying attention.

While standing in line at the funeral home, Matt related stories of him and Larry playing as partners in the last couple of Big Hose Golf Tourneys. Matt said he hit three balls out of bounds on one hole and had Larry just shaking his head in disbelief. Matthew, like his old Dad, really enjoyed being around Larry.

Over the past 20 years, I was afforded the opportunity to play golf with Larry many times. Larry once taught me the famous Hasler grunt, which I made a poor attempt at imitating on one occasion and nearly separated my shoulder from the rest of my body. He was a fierce competitor at all times and you just loved to be around him. I'm not sure how many rainouts we persevered through on the club house veranda, just sipping a cold one and telling stories. It was the highlight of my day when I could get him to laugh out loud.

We will miss Larry, but we will remember him and talk of him often. If it ever warms up and dries out, I'm dedicating my first drive to Larry. I'm going to get the Hasler grunt right this time.

I received a call at work today from another friend to tell me about Ron Storm passing on Friday. Ron lived in Watseka, Illinois and was the owner of S&A Concrete. I first met Ron when we began building the first Detonation Chamber at Blue Grass Army Depot back in the mid '90s. We built and tested another one at Crane and another one that was designed to be transportable. It was a great working relationship that developed into a good friendship. Those times were interesting, challenging and fun. Ron could master a challenge and make everyone working with him have fun doing it.

Ron participated in a struggle up Hill 937 back in May of 1969, which was nicknamed by the press, the Battle of Hamburger Hill. In Samuel Zaffiri's book, Hamburger Hill, you will find mention of SP4 Ron Storm on pages 70-72. It doesn't say much in the book about Ron other than describing, in some detail, an airburst in the trees that knocked him down and then Ron getting back up and continuing up the Hill. We talked about that battle occasionally over supper, but you could tell it was something he'd rather not talk about too much. He also became a tunnel rat while in Vietnam and described those trips into those tunnels in frightening detail. If I got him going good on a story, I'd sneak one of my extra hot wings into his basket, unnoticed until it reached his mouth. I can still see his face light up when he realized what I'd done.

It has been a sad time for me today, but I'm sure glad I had the opportunity to know these two gentlemen.