Many of your writers make mention of the opportunity they had to meet Mr. Buckley. I lost out in that regard. He was on a cruise ship to Nova Scotia that stopped in Halifax a few years ago. But I, an octogenarian, was  recovering from bypass surgery. How pleased I was, however, to read in one of his columns a short time later this line saying, "with the posssible exception of New Zealanders, Nova Scotians are the nicest people on this earth". It went a long way to make up for missing the opportunity to shake his hand as he stepped off the cruise ship. I so wanted to express my profound gratitude for providing me, in my case, with about forty years of National Review. Among other things, he would send me scurrying to my dictionary to search for a certain word which I sometimes felt he, with his impish smile, put  there just for me.

What can I do in  response to the so much that he has provided me? Well, I offered Mass for his generous, multi-talented soul this morning praying that he will sail smoothly into that world of eternal amazement.