[Granville-Hough] 13 Dec 2009 - John ??? Eulogy

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:10:36 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: John ??? Eulogy - 13 Dec 2009

>I remember John best as a fellow West Point cadet in Company D-2.  I believe he was an
>Army brat, as he seemed to understand "the system," and he knew several
>of the old Army families on the post.  John could arrange parties and
>dates in ways that seemed beyond the experience of most of us.
>         I had some altercation with a first classman who said he was astounded
>by my ignorance of martial music.  He had me listen to the breakfast
>bugle calls and try to repeat them.  I had no luck at all.  Finally, the
>soldier blowing the calls asked me what I was doing watching him blow
>the calls, and I explained the requirement.  He said he was sorry, but
>that he blew different calls to avoid the boredom of blowing the same
>one all the time.  No one seemed to notice the difference.  Certainly
>not the first classman who was having me listen.
>         In the process of listening to calls, classmate John ??? had let me 
> borrow some
>of his records to see if they would help.  I discovered John had records
>of some of the most beautiful music I had ever heard, music of composers
>who were only names to me: Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Strauss, etc.  For
>the rest of the three years at the Academy, I generally had some of
>John's music.  I never learned a bugle call, and never learned to read
>music; but I had a family of musicians and music has been part of my
>life.  For this introduction to music, I thank John.
>         John must have gone to Korea with me in 1947, but I cannot 
> remember seeing him
>there.  We never again crossed paths, but I always wished him well.  
He lived in San Francisco after leaving the Army.  It took me some years
to understand why some of my unmarried classmates left the Army as soon
as they
could and moved to San Francisco.  I suppose now with the remembrances
and respect being paid to Harvey Milk, we would have to consider these
West Pointers as leaders along with Harvey Milk in revival of an old but
unacceptable lifestyle to many.
  I do not know that John or any of my classmates were involved, but
when I put
two and two together, I do not get five.  I wish John well in whatever
missions he is facing in the hereafter.
	I am reminded by an anecdote related by a fellow Promise Keeper about a
priest confused by an angry outpouring (confession), who finally said:
"There are two
things I can tell you with absolute certainty.  There is a God, and I am
not He."  So we all must ask, concerning the current uproar in the
Episcopalian Church, "Who are we to judge?"  Granville.