Two Memories   

Please permit me to give two very short, very different recollections of Bill Buckley:

My first recollection of WFB occurred when my mother planted me at her feet each week while she sat in front of a god-awful black-and-white TV and watched Firing Line in its entirety.  Even though I was quite young, I clearly remember thinking to myself that one day, I would know what all those huge words were and would be able to use them as wittily as WFB.  Well, I am now safely a middle-aged Catholic clergyman who spends most of his working day teaching English and World Literature in a Catholic boys school in Irving, Texas – and I use A LOT of WFB’s words on a daily basis.

My second recollection comes from May of 1990 when my first crop of students were getting ready to go off to the university – two of them to Yale.  I dropped WFB a short note, explained how distressed I was at losing my students to paganism in New Haven, and asking for his help.  Well, he immediately sent me two copies of God and Man at Yale and was thoughtful enough to inscribe each book personally to the student who was going to receive it!  What a thoughtful, gracious gesture!  May the Lord reward him for his countless kindnesses as well as his wonderful life!
In Christ, Father Gregory M. Schweers, O. Cist.

03/01 01:08 PM