What will your legacy be????

Valentines weekend 2011
dispatch: Historical Old Molloy's

I had the honor of attending a.......well a party, to celebrate the passing of a dear old friend. There were tears, but more importantly there were laughs. There were stories of days gone by brought on a sense of somberness, and stories that made you laugh. Stories that revealed a side you did not know. But more importantly was the fact that Bill left a legacy that would be hard to match. I would call Bill a multi-faceted personality. Not multiple personalities, that's something totally different. I guess you could start with Bill the Marine. He served during the Korean War, was an member of an exclusive group of Marines called "The Chosin Few", who fought the Koreans and the Chinese at a frozen Hell called the Chosin Resovoir. He then became a reporter, first in Marin County, then for the San Francisco Examiner.
I did not know Bill during this time, I met him much later. My wife started teaching in 1995..ish, I think, and one day I met the nicest school secretary, his wife Lynn. Over the ensuing years we all got know each other better, enjoyed laughs that included an early morning wake up call from Lynn that my wife and I have (well I have at least) enjoyed retelling to all. Over time I got to know Bill. He would come to my wife's classroom and read books to her class. Something he seemed to truly love doing. The times I saw him there he seemed to light up and revel in the joy of reading to the kids. Like an old Grandpa. He once invited me to go to a luncheon with him. I gladly accepted as I have always enjoyed his company and stories. He knew my Father was an old Marine and told me this group was a bunch of old Marines. Bill was a member of a group of Marines who were all members of the the First Marine Division. I enjoyed talking with this group, all of them bonded by the trials of war and the Marine Corp. It was shortly there after, when my wife asked me if I liked "Chili"? "of course" I replied. "Well Lynn would like to know if you want to be a judge in a "Chili Cook Off"....."Sure" I said. And thus began a new chapter in my life. Page one, line one of that chapter "real Chili does not have beans", and so thus began my "career" as a Chili Judge and my introduction to the "International Chili Society" or the ICS. Many who know me think I can be a judge-mental bastard, so I guess the shoe fit!
Then, one day I was asked if I had ever heard of the "Clampers".....being the smart ass that I am I said sure "there is Jethro, Ellie-Mae, Granny, Unc"......"No you dumbass, the "Clampers" not the Klampetts! I had worked with a guy who was a Clamper, but it had gone to his head and he liked to act he belonged to a secret society like "The Illuminati". It was then that Bill brought me in as a "PBC" or Poor Blind Candidate. After an initiation that cannot be publicly disclosed I was taken in by the "Yerba Buena #1" chapter of E Clampus Vitus.
As I said earlier, Bill is a mutli-faceted individual. I say is because I believe those that leave this material world we exist in, never "leave us", they watch over us, nudge us in the right direction or make the proverbial banana peel fall under foot if we "need it." As well as being a reporter for the Examiner, Bill was also a part time Journalism instructor at San Francisco State University. I titled this blog "What Will Your Legacy Be" for two reasons, the obvious was the passing of a man who left an almost larger that life legacy, the second part was what Bill made his students do for their first assignment in his class:
"Write your own obituary"
Now, I really want to hear what you have to say about yourself!
And if you feel you don't have a legacy, go out and create one.