BECAUSE THAT IS SOMEBODY WHO PRAISED OR

PUBLICIZED WHAT ALREADY EXISTED.

IT PERFECTLY DESCRIBES BILL.

RATHER THAN BEING KNOWN AS A CREATOR OF

STORIES, HE CAREFULLY CRAFTED HIS USE OF WORDS

TO WRITE ABOUT THE DIVERSITY OF HUMANITY WHICH

HE OBSERVED AND CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT HIS

LIFE.

NOW THAT WE ARE TAKING THE TIME TO REFLECT

UPON OUR LIVES WITH BILL, MANY OF US REALIZE

HE ALWAYS OBSERVED AND RETOLD THE ACTIVITIES

OF OTHERS.

HE WAS AN ACTIVE LISTENER.......TO BE THIS,

HE HAD TO DESIRE LEARNING MORE THAN HE DESIRED

TALKING.

BILL ALWAYS PUT HIMSELF SQUARELY INTO THE

MIDDLE OF WHATEVER WAS GOING ON, BUT ALWAYS

PUTTING OTHERS BEFORE HIMSELF.

WHILE ACQUIRING HIS OWN SUCCESSES, BILL

REJOICED IN, AND RECOUNTED TO, CLASSMATES THE

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OTHERS.

HE DIDN’T HAVE AN ENVIOUS BONE IN HIS BODY.

HIS MIND WAS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FACTS, FIGURES

AND STATISTICS RELATIVE TO ECONOMICS, POLITICS

AND SPORTS....ESPECIALLY THE FIGURES ABOUT

ARMY’S FOOTBALL LOSSES.

I NOW SPEAK OF MY OWN RELATIONSHIP WITH BILL

AND PERHAPS THOSE HE HAD WITH OTHERS.

I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST MET BILL...IT WAS AT

THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST

POINT, ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF JULY, 1958.

TO SAY IT WAS A HECTIC SITUATION AND AN

ENORMOUSLY CROWDED DAY WOULD BE AN

UNDERSTATEMENT.

AT SOME POINT ON THAT DAY I WAS SENT TO A

PARTICULAR ROOM AND FOUND TWO OTHER NEW CADETS

ALREADY THERE.

WE WOULD ALL BECOME ROOMMATES.

ONE WAS RON ZINN, WHOM BILL WOULD LATER

MEMORIALIZE IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES.

THE OTHER,

OF COURSE, WAS NONE OTHER THAN, BILL MOGAN.

ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NOT MUCH TIME TO GET TO

KNOW EACH OTHER THAT DAY, THE EARLY EVENING

WOULD FIND BILL AND ME SHOULDER TO SHOULDER

WITH 800 OTHER NEW CADETS. WE STOOD AS A CLASS

FOR THE FIRST TIME ON TROPHY POINT, RECITING

TOGETHER THE CADET OATH....AND OUR LIFE AS

“BROTHERS” HAD BEGUN.

GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR ONCE SAID HIS OWN

MOMENT TAKING THE PLEBE OATH WAS THE MOST

PROFOUND EVENT OF HIS LIFE.

AND SO IT WAS FOR BOTH BILL AND ME.

BUT, THERE LIKELY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN TWO MORE

DIFFERENT CADETS THAN THE TWO OF US WHO WOULD

BECOME LIFELONG FRIENDS.

BILL GREW UP, FOR THE MOST PART, IN THE COLDWEATHER

CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, THE FIRST BORN

SON OF CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT PARENTS, ONE A

CORNING GLASSWORKS SALESMAN, THE OTHER A

HOMEMAKER MOTHER.

I GREW UP A BAPTIST IN THE HOT HUMID RURAL

BACKROADS OF THE SOUTH, FIRST BORN SON OF A

POOR TOBACCO FARMER AND HOMEMAKER MOTHER.

AS A BOY, BILL HOPPED BIG CITY MINNEAPOLIS

STREETCARS TO GO TO MOVIE “THEATERS”, ON HIS

SATURDAYS.....

ON MY BOYHOOD SATURDAYS, I RODE IN MY

GRANDPA’S FORD PICK UP TRUCK TO A SLEEPY

LITTLE TOWN IN NORTH CAROLINA, TO WATCH

“MOVING PICTURE SHOWS” OF GENE AUTREY AND LASH

LARUE WHOOPING UP ON THE “BAD GUYS.”

BILL PLAYED SPORTS IN THE CITY....

I PLAYED BASEBALL IN COW PASTURES WITH “COW

PIES” MARKING THE BASES.

ONE “SWAMP PHASE” RANGER PATROL, OF WHICH I

WAS A MEMBER, RODE RUBBER RAFTS UP TO A

SECLUDED BEACH COASTLINE IN THE GULF COAST OF

MEXICO, NOT FAR FROM EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE.

UPON COMPLETION OF OUR PATROL’S OBJECTIVE, WE

WERE TO RETRIEVE OUR RAFTS UNDER THE COVER OF

DARKNESS AND RENDEZVOUS WITH A U. S. NAVY

LANDING CRAFT SOME TEN MILES OUT IN THE GULF.

WE WERE DRESSED IN CAMOUFLAGED COMBAT ATTIRE

AND CARRYING WEAPONS. OUR BODIES BECAME

COVERED IN SALT, SAND, MUD, BITING FLYS AND

STINGING MOSQUITOS.

WE WERE UNSHAVEN, TIRED, HUNGRY AND VERY

WHEN FRIENDS NEEDED A JOB, BILL UTILIZED HIS

WIDE CORPORATE NETWORKING TO ASSIST THEM AND

WHEN FRIENDS NEEDED MEDICAL INTERVENTION, HE

AND HIS WIFE, MISS LORETTA, OPENED THEIR HOME

TO THOSE SEEKING HELP AT MAYO CLINIC.

AS EVIDENCED BY YOUR PRESENCE HERE TODAY AND

BY THE MANY HUNDREDS OF HEARTFELT EXPRESSIONS

OF SYMPATHY ALREADY RECEIVED BY HIS FAMILY,

BILL MOGAN WAS DEEPLY LOVED AND ADMIRED AS A

REMARKABLE INDIVIDUAL POSSESSED OF ENORMOUS

ENERGY, LOYALTY, WARMTH AND HUMOR.

AS MOST OF US KNOW, THREE THEMES PREDOMINATED

THROUGHOUT BILL’S SIXTY SEVEN YEARS:

FAMILY, WORK AND FUN.

HE SO OFTEN SAID TO ME AND MY WIFE, HOW DEEPLY

HE APPRECIATED AND LOVED HIS PERSONAL ANGEL,

MISS LORETTA, WHOM HE MARRIED AFTER MEETING

HER SOME 20 YEARS AGO.

SHE IS A REMARKABLY STRONG AND INTELLIGENT

WOMAN. WITH HER GRACE AND WARMTH, SHE WAS

CONSTANTLY SUPPORTIVE OF BILL AND HIS INTEREST

IN WRITING AND SHE DID THIS WHILE PURSUING HER

OWN CAREER AT MAYO CLINIC.

LORETTA’S DEVOTION, LOYALTY AND ABIDING LOVE

FOR BILL DURING THESE DIFFICULT MONTHS HAS

NEVER WAVERED. LORETTA, YOU BLEST BILL’S LIFE

IN BOTH SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH.

YOU NEED TO ALWAYS KNOW HE BELIEVED YOU

ENRICHED HIS LIFE COMPLETELY.

BILL TRULY LOVED AND ENJOYED LORETTA’S

CHILDREN, SUSANNE, TINA AND PAUL AS WELL AS

SUSANNE’S TWO BOYS.

BILL UPLIFTED HIMSELF IN THOSE DIFFICULT LATER

DAYS OF LIFE BY ADMITTING HE MAY “HAVE DONE

GOOD BY MY BOYS.”

HE WAS SO PROUD OF THEIR CAREER OBJECTIVES AND

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, BOTH OF WHICH HE CLOSELY

FOLLOWED.

WHEN MIKE JOINED THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND

SECURITY’S BORDER PATROL, BILL SENT ME MANY

PROUD EMAILS EXPLAINING WHAT MIKE WAS DOING

FOR OUR NATION, SOLDIERING IN THIS NEW AND

COMPLICATED POST 9-11 WORLD.

BILL HAD THE WONDERFUL ABILITY TO MAKE ANYONE

FEEL SPECIAL. WHEN HE VISITED WITH YOU OR

WHEN YOU WENT TO SEE HIM, HE GAVE YOU HIS

UNDIVIDED ATTENTION AND SEEMED TO HAVE AS MUCH

TIME AS YOU NEEDED.

BILL WAS BELOVED FOR BOTH HIS STRENGTH OF

CHARACTER AND AN UNASSUMING HUMILITY. HE HAD

A KIND AND CONSIDERATE SOUL MIXED WITH A HEAVY

DOSE OF COURAGE SUFFICIENT FOR TWO, MAKING HIM

THE BEST FRIEND A PERSON COULD EVER HOPE FOR.

‘HE IS GONE’

“YOU CAN SHED TEARS THAT HE IS GONE,

OR

YOU CAN SMILE BECAUSE HE HAS LIVED.

YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES AND PRAY HE’LL COME

BACK,

OR

YOU CAN OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE ALL HE LEFT.

YOUR HEART CAN BE EMPTY BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SEE

HIM,

OR

YOU CAN BE FULL OF THE LOVE YOU SHARED.