He was my son, and I chose to identify him as “mountain climber” on the family tombstone. But the authorities at Holy Rood (Holy Cross) Cemetery felt that name was inappropriate, and persuaded me to choose the better name of “English Professor.” That’s what he was, an adjunct English Professor. I am proud of that.
He did have a proclivity for rock climbing, and only God knows the virtual mountains he climbed in life. We all climb mountains of our aspirations, and that may have appealed to his imagination and urged him to carry it out on such peaks as the Half-Dome in Yosemite. That climb involves an overnight bivouac, hanging on the face of the dome.
I gave him my best guidance, but in this universe God created, there are many byways and wrong paths. Paul, I did my best, but I’m merely human.
