 |
| Meusse-Argonne Cemetery in France |
A significant part of the drive behind the work we do is my
thankfulness for having a shot at life. And a human life at that…most life on
earth has been, and is, one of the other myriad of life forms. And then to be an American architect on top
of that - so many of us have not had that opportunity.
I think of Gary Hahn, a first year architecture student at
USC of great talent and promise. I
wondered what he would be like in second year when we moved from basic to
architectural design. He didn’t show up
– it turned out that he was killed in a rock climbing accident over the summer.
I think of Lionel Dover, my mother’s oldest brother, who
fought in World War I at the age of eighteen, but married before he left. He was wounded and in a fox hole when his
buddy went back for help, but when they returned he was gone, never to be seen
again. His name is immortalized on a
wall of the missing soldiers at the Meusse-Argonne Cemetery in France. Josephine never remarried for as a Mormon she
held the belief that marriage was for all time and eternity.
I think of all the grave markers in the children’s section
of our cemeteries – those who hardly got a taste of life at all.
So I work hard and try to make sure I carry my share of the
load. Helena has always bought into this
mind set and together we are thankfully living the life we began for ourselves
over four decades ago.
