TJR

"He was a boy of summer. He met his wife on a summer day. His son was born in summer. And so it is that we blow him a kiss goodbye on a soft summer evening, this sweetheart of a man who always left us smiling."
-Mike Barnicle


"Big Russ" is not with us here in this hall today. He's watching,
however, I am assured from Buffalo. And I want to take just a moment
to talk to him.

"Big Russ," you may remember about a dozen years ago, you sent me
this. This is a mug from the American Legion Post 721 in South
Buffalo. And for every morning since that time, it has been my first
companion as I brush my teeth. But now, I'm going to set this mug
aside. I'm going to save it for election night. I'm going to fill it
with this Rolling Rock that I pilfered just today from Tim's cooler,
here in Washington. I'll fill the mug with the Rolling Rock and I
hope that a call will come: "Tommy B., what's happening? This is
wild!"

But, I know that that call won't come. The voice will linger only in
my heart and in my memory. And so on election night, "Big Russ," I
will raise this glass to you. For your gift to us of Tim and to your
favorite saying, it was his and mine as well, "What a country." Thank
you."
- Tom Brokaw