We still miss him

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the passing of former President Ronald Reagan. To mark the occasion, I have uploaded the mass e-mails I sent to friends and relatives at the time, which included my reflections on the man, his legacy, and his impact in my own life. I knew nothing about blogging at the time, of course; otherwise, my musings would have been posted here to begin with.

As in the case of my Italy e-mails (which appear in the February archives), these have been slightly edited, and one of them includes some information I added today, which appears in brackets. They appear in reverse chronological order, based on the date and time of day they were originally sent. In other words, the first one I composed and sent appears further down the page, the later ones closer to the top. Two of these were sent on the same day.

I hesitated at the time to mention the fact that I wore my Sunday best while watching Reagan's funeral, as I was afraid it would be looked upon as an eccentric gesture; but apparently it had a very different effect, and a number of people told me later that they found it to be rather touching. In fact, one friend even informed me that he told the story in a talk on the subject of reverence, which he had given in his ward's sacrament meeting.

Barney Madsen suggested some time ago that I post these on my site, and I decided to wait until the anniversary before doing so. I hope they are enjoyed by one and all, and that they do justice to the man they were intended to honor.