Joe Skippers / Reuters

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford and wife Betty Ford acknowledge the cheers from the crowd following a tribute in his honor at the Republican National Convention Aug. 1, 2000, in Philadelphia. Ford's personal brand of Republicanism was marked by civility, moderation and solid relationships with members of Congress from both parties.

Tim Sloans / Getty Images

President George W. Bush, Phi '68, makes a live televised address to the nation (link) on the death of former President Gerald R. Ford, who joined DKE's Mystic Circle December 26, 2006. The President remembered Ford as "a gentleman who reflected the best in America's character."

This is the first time in history, and likely the only time, that two Presidents of the United States, both Dekes, have eulogized a Former President of the United States who also was a Deke.

Eulogy for Brother For by Former President Bush, Phi '48.

Eulogy for Brother Ford by President Bush, Phi '68.

President Ford, with his Omicron roommate Earl Townsend (center), receives a DKE plaque from Psi Phi Deke Milo Hanke, Jr. '77.

Jerry Ford holds the trophy he received as the best freshman in spring practice while standing with University of Michigan football teammate Herman Everhardus, the man responsible for Ford becoming a Deke.

Gerald Ford as a University of Michigan football player in 1934. Ford graduated UM in 1935.

Ford and Gunnery Officer William "Bill" Hacker celebrate shore leave from their duties aboard the USS MONTEREY. 1944.

The Omicron DKE House from

1928 – 1968, at 1912 Geddes.

Gerald Ford leaves Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, with his new wife, the former Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer, October 15, 1948.

Brother Ford was unable to attend the 2006 DKE Convention in New Orleans. However, he was one of several men who sent welcoming letters to be read to attendees at the banquet.

(click letter for larger version)

The Omicron Shant, now the headquarters of DKE International.

Ford wrote the preface to DKE's 150th

Anniversary book.

(click photo for larger view)

Ford remained a regular visitor to the Omicron chapter house throughout his life. Here, the actives take advantage of a photo opp on the front lawn.

Brandy Bakers / The Detroit News

Former President Ford celebrates his 90th birthday at a "Hometown Celebration" in front of the museum that bears his name in Grand Rapids on July 30, 2003.

Marcy Nighswanders / Associated Press

As the nation's top leader, Ford kept good company. Here, President George Bush, Phi '48, left, walks with former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon in the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. November, 1991.

Mark Wilson / Reuters

Former President Ford smiles after receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton at the White House, Aug. 11, 1999.

The awards were established by President Kennedy in 1963 for outstanding service

to the United States.

Brother Gerald R. Ford, Jr., Omicron '35

Remembered

A brother dead and brothers mourning

Fill the heart with grief today,

And the earnest grasp fraternal;

Speaks, "a dear one passed away."

Yes, no longer we shall greet thee

In the halls of DKE,

Yet thy name in sweet remembrance

Graven on our hearts will be.

We have parted, Brother, parted,

As we trust, to meet again,

In a full unbroken circle,

Free from sorrow, grief and pain.

In 1919, when Teddy Roosevelt, Alpha '80, joined DKE's Mystic Circle, Gerald Ford, the next Deke to live in the White House, was six years old.

Roosevelt surrounded himself with Dekes. His daughter, Alice, married Harvard Deke Nicholas Longworth, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1902 – 12, while TR was in the White House. Longworth's father and uncle also had been initiated at DKE's Alpha Chapter at Harvard. Robert Bacon, Alpha '80, was U.S. Secretary of State in the Roosevelt administration. George Meyer, Alpha '79, was Secretary of the Navy and later Postmaster General, and Henry Cabot Lodge, Alpha '71, was Senate Majority Leader.

Roosevelt's favorite writer was fellow Alpha Deke Owen Wister. Newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, Alpha '85, used his papers

to promote the Rough Rider, and Indiana Senator Albert Beveridge,

Psi Phi '85, was the keynote speaker at the new Progressive Party convention which nominated Roosevelt for U.S. President in 1912.

While Michigan's Gerald Ford wasn't born into the life of privilege that awaited Roosevelt, he too pledged DKE, and he too surrounded himself with fraternity brothers. Ed Frey, Omicron '31, was his campaign manager during his early political successes -- and there were many of those. Frey went on to be CEO of Union Bank.

The Ford Cabinet included several Dekes. The Secretary of Treasury was William Simon, Rho '51. The Secretary of Interior and Commerce, Rogers C. B. Morton, was a Phi Deke in the Class of 1937. And Ford's U.S Liaison to China, and later Director of the CIA, was George H. W. Bush, Phi '48.

University of Michigan Dekes who knew the President recall a man similar to the one eulogized in media across the world today. But Ford's DKE network extended beyond our brothers from Omicron. When Ford graduated from Michigan, he attended Yale Law School, and his classmates included Phi Dekes. Future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart '37 was there, as was future Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver '38.

At Yale, Ford also served as assistant football coach and boxing coach, mentoring several Dekes on the football team, including future Senator Robert Taft, Jr., Phi '39.

From the obituaries now honoring President Ford, we know he was the only U.S. President to be an Eagle Boy Scout. We know he was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska. His father left the family when Ford was two weeks old, his mother quickly moved to Grand Rapids where she married Gerald Ford Sr. nearly three years later, the couple began calling Mrs. Ford's son Gerald R. Ford, Jr., and it wasn't until Jerry was a senior at the University of Michigan that he legally changed his name, making Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. permanent.

Already permanent in Ford was a serious temperament. The newspapers repeat it, and the men who lived in the Omicron chapter house with Ford confirm it. "He's everything everybody says about him," said Earl Townsend, Omicron '36. Townsend transferred to Michigan after his sophomore year at DePauw, where he was initiated at DKE's Psi Phi chapter. His brother, John, was in Omicron's 1938 graduating class. During his junior and senior years, living in the DKE House at 1912 Geddes, Earl was Ford's roommate. (Click here for a brief piece on Earl in the Sun., 12/31/06, edition of The Indianapolis Star.)

"He made good grades. He was a studier. And he wanted to be a football coach after college," Townsend said in an interview two days after the President's death. Townsend celebrated his 92nd birthday a month before, and he held a photo of the Omicron chapter in 1936 as he talked. "He and I washed dishes for all three meals at the chapter house. It took us about an hour after each meal to get everything cleaned up," he said. "We did it in return for board. That's how most athletes got through school then. I played basketball, and Jerry and I became close friends through sports.

"I watched him play on the football team," Townsend said. "Freddy Columbo was the team manager and also a Deke. I remember standing with Freddy the first night Jerry played as a regular, and I saw him get some terrible beatings."

Ford played center and linebacker for Michigan and helped the Wolverines to undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. The team suffered a steep decline in his 1934 senior year, however, winning only one game. Ford was acknowledged as the team's star nonetheless.

"Michigan had had a couple national championships, so everyone was out to beat us," Townsend said. "In 1935, when Jerry was captain, we were short on backs. But along came the brother of another Deke, Chris Everhardus. His brother, Herman, already was in the chapter and on the team, and it didn't take long for Chris to be in the chapter and on the team, too. He played like a demon. He was something else. I remember a hard game against Wisconsin, and Chris won that game. The guys all came back to the Deke House together and Jerry was so proud of Chris. Of course, we all were proud of Jerry because he was the center."

More than 70 years after another game at Michigan, Townsend's memory for the day and what happened is sharp. "Ford and Everhardus were two reliables who came out of that Class of 1935," he said. "The Ohio State game was the last of the year at home. I remember I took Jerry home after that game. His legs were gone. He could hardly get into the house. The OSU team seemed to pick him out. Michigan lost that game 12 – 0, and the seniors came out to help take Jerry into the house. There were only three seniors that year, and we got him inside. He could hardly talk. For hours afterward, he just sat in his room."

Ford himself later recalled: "During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.

His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, "They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause." As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in an exhibition game. And his number 48 jersey has since been retired by the University of Michigan.

Following his graduation in 1935, with a degree in political science and economics, Ford turned down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers to take a coaching position at Yale and apply to its law school. Each team was offering him a contract of $200 a game, but he wanted a legal education.

Townsend followed Ford as Omicron chapter president, and the two leaders kept in touch throughout their professional lives and into retirement. Townsend visited Ford three times in the White House. He and his daughter also visited the Fords in California, and Jerry visited Townsend's home in Indianapolis.

A photo on Townsend's wall commemorates the visit as much as it highlights DKE's ongoing involvement in American politics. It was 1976 and Ford was President. And while the lunch at Townsend's home was private, the visitors beforehand included Matt Welch, Delta Kappa '34, Indiana Governor from 1961 – 65, Bob Orr, Phi '40, who would serve Indiana as a two-term Governor from 1981 – 89, and Dan Quayle, Psi Phi '69, Indiana's junior Senator from 1980 - 89, then Vice President under George H.W. Bush, Phi '48.

More than 30 years earlier, Ford received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. On April 20, 1942 he reported for active duty at Annapolis, Maryland. After a month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary seamanship, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached in all nine sports that were offered, but mostly in swimming, boxing and football. During the one year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and then to Lieutenant in March, 1943.

Applying for sea duty, Ford was sent in May, 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey. From the ship's commissioning until the end of December, 1944, he served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets during the fall of 1943 and in 1944.

Bill Hurley '42 joined Deke's Omicron chapter two years after Ford graduated. He lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, now and says he "graduated in uniform. I was in ROTC and went right into active duty in the Army after college," he said. He was wounded, sent home, and began a career in investments. For 33 years he worked in Detroit's office of Watling, Lerchen. A good, active Deke, after retirement he worked for 10 years as director of development for a Detroit hospital, helping with fund raising and community relations.

"Jerry had been gone for two years by the time I got to the Deke House," Hurley said, "but he would come back for football games and chaperone parties occasionally when he was back in Grand Rapids. The house was ideal for a fraternity. It sat up on a big hill on the edge of town, overlooking the Arboretum. It had been a private home, one for a man we called a ‘lumber baron,' and it had a homey feel to it."

The DKE House at 1912 Geddes was purchased by Omicron in 1928 and was the chapter's home for 40 years, until in burned in 1968. "The kitchen was in the back, just off the dining room," Hurley said, "and of course the stories of Jerry washing dishes there are legendary now."

"I remember one story, about how Jerry first became acquainted with the Dekes," Hurley said. "He was trying out for the football team as a freshman. He met Herman Everhardus, and he made a comment about needing a job to help with schooling. Herman got him a job waiting tables at the Deke House, and the fellas liked him so much, they invited him to join DKE."

Hurley knew Ford's half-brother, Tom Ford, Omicron '41, much better as Tom was just a year older in school. "Tom was a nice fella," Hurley said. "Both Fords were nice fellas."

Phil Buchen, Omicron '39, "was a good, dear friend of Jerry's," Hurley said. "He was a senior when I was a freshman, and after the war he and Jerry became law partners in Grand Rapids." Ford served in the Navy after graduating from Michigan and from Yale Law. While Ford was at Yale, Buchen studied law at Michigan. "Phil was a Big Man on Campus, too, just like Ford had been. And when Jerry went to Washington, he asked Phil to be his legal counsel. He was with Jerry in the White House all the time."

Jim Grace, Omicron '40, also knew Buchen. "There's an interesting figure connected with Jerry," Grace said. "Phil Buchen was Phi Beta Kappa and a Deke. As you might imagine, there weren't a lot of those," he chuckled. "And he made Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, which was very rare. When Jerry was in the White House, Phil was his counsel. They had been partners in Grand Rapids, and as Jerry climbed the ladder he stayed with Phil."

That shouldn't surprise Dekes. After all, Dekes are brothers. Dekes are friends from the heart forever.

The Omicron house of the 1930s must have been the jock house. Grace asked who was contributing to this Deke remembrance of Brother Ford, and after complementing Ford's football prowess as Earl Townsend had, he said Earl and his brother Jake were a great duo.

"Jake Townsend was a celebrated basketball player," he said. "There was a question about whether he, or some player at Stanford, was the finest player in the country at the time."

Earl, however, who spent his career as an attorney in the Indianapolis firm Townsend & Townsend, is enshrined in Indiana's Basketball Hall of Fame, set a Michigan single-game scoring record, and was captain of the Wolverine team his senior year. All of this while maintaining a straight-A average. So maybe the Omicron men of the ‘30s were the brain house. Without question, they all turned out well.

"Tommy Ford was in the house. He was a year behind me. And Jerry was in and out of the house because he would come to see Tommy," Grace said. "I knew both Jerry's half-brothers, Tom and Dick, much better than I knew Jerry," he said. "Tom was a Deke and went on to serve in the Michigan legislature."

Not only did Jim Grace know Ford's half-brothers, he knew Ford's wife-to-be.

"I met Betty Bloomer through an honorary fraternity in high school. One year my chapter went to Grand Rapids, and I met Betty there. She and I went out on a date. It was a Friday, and it was our only date. She already had another scheduled for Saturday," Grace chuckled.

"She got the better man. Jerry was a fine man," Grace said. Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer on October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. She was a department-store fashion consultant who had been a John Robert Powers fashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

At the time of his engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of 13 terms, and 24 years, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before the election, because, as The New York Times reported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, "Jerry was running for Congress." Part of Omicron lore, although it can't be confirmed, is that the newlywed Fords spent part of their brief honeymoon in Ann Arbor, at the DKE House.

The Fords had four children: Michael Gerald Ford (born 1950), John Gardner Ford (a.k.a. Jack, born 1952), Steven Meigs Ford (born 1956), and Susan Elizabeth Ford (born 1957). None of Ford's three sons are Dekes.

Jim Grace remembered seeing Jerry in 1947. "He was still a bachelor then, and he was a friend of a couple Omicron Dekes named Jack Beckwith and Phil Vanzile. They had been in the chapter around the same time. I ran into Jack on a train, and he invited me to his home west of Chicago. The four of us got together there. We played golf at the Chicago Country Club. It was a fantastic club, and we had a great weekend. Those guys were older, and I was grateful to have been invited." There's more to this weekend story, but Grace is too much of a gentleman, and too respectful of the President, to tell it. Beckwith later was part of the Ford wedding party, serving as Best Man.

Grace did recall a story from his active chapter days that later involved Ford. "Joe Henshaw was a Deke in the Class of '38. During his undergrad career," Grace said, "all Joe did was stand at the base of the library steps and promote the latest Deke party. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and he later went on to New York and had a seat on the Stock Exchange, so don't get me wrong, the guy was sharp.

"When Ford was Vice President, he came back to Ann Arbor to address the graduating class. Those of us from his era were invited to the Deke Shant to greet him afterward. The courtyard, as you go in, was full of Secret Service. They were swarming the place. What we didn't know at that time, but clearly the Secret Service did, was that Ford soon was going to be President.

"We went up the stairs and into the room, and everyone was concerned about how to address him. As he came up the stairs, who was at his elbow? Joe Henshaw. We ended up calling Jerry ‘Mr. Vice President.' And my point is that Joe Henshaw never missed a party."

A lifelong member of the Republican Party, Ford's political career as the only unelected U.S. Vice President and President is the stuff of trivia games.

He was a member of the House of Representatives for 24 years, holding the Grand Rapids congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy."

In 1963, Republican members of the House elected him Minority Leader. Later, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

During the eight years (1965–1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. According to The New York Times, "Nixon sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement. The advice was unanimous. ‘We gave Nixon no choice but Ford,' House Speaker Carl Albert recalled later."

When Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position, it was the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented. The Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford, and the House confirmed him 387 to 35.

Following Ford's appointment, the Watergate investigation continued until Chief of Staff Alexander Haig told Ford that "smoking gun" evidence had been found, leaving little doubt that President Nixon had been a part of the Watergate cover-up.

At the time, the Fords were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designated vice president's residence in Washington. However, "Al Haig asked to come over and see me," Ford later related, "to tell me that there would be a new tape released, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there probably would be either an impeachment or a resignation.

"And he said, ‘I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become president.' And I said, ‘Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"

When President Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the presidency. Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the peculiarity of his position, saying "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers."

"Jerry was a modest guy," Jim Grace said. "When he was selected as Vice President, he lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and reporters descended on his house. They all asked about his career, about Michigan and Yale, and one said ‘I understand you're left-handed.' Later Jerry commented, ‘they had to find something wrong.'"

Fixing things wrong at the Deke House was one of Ford's responsibilities as Omicron house manager. Art Harwood, Omicron '38, said Ford did a good job in that role. "The meals were only a dollar a day, so getting board wasn't that much," Harwood said as he thought back about his days in the Deke House at 1912 Geddes.

"Jerry had a little desk on the balcony on the second story," he said. "That's where the house manager worked. I was doing some broadcasting at school, and we only had two meals on Sundays. I had some questions about whether I could pay the dollar a day, and I remember one Sunday when Jerry said ‘We can cancel it for the day. Go get a malted.' That meant a lot to me."

The Omicron Dekes in the ‘30s had a Saturday night chapter meeting in the Shant. "We would march back to the house singing the Deke Song at 10 or 11 at night," Harwood said. "Of course, that interfered with dating, but the guys weren't supposed to have anything to do with girls then anyway.

DKE Executive Director David Easlick, Omicron '69, recalled a story Ford told him during a visit to Ford's Rancho Mirage, California, home. "Well after his Presidential days, he visited Ann Arbor. Mexico's President Padilla also was visiting the University, and Ford took him to the Shant. He peered over the wall and reminisced, telling the Mexican President about climbing the wall as a college kid in order to pay homage." It's likely the story involved late-night marches back to the Deke House, singing songs we all remember bits and pieces of.

Not all Deke stories about Brother Jerry Ford are rooted in the 1930s. Lin Hanson, Omicron '59, and a member of the DKE International Board of Directors, met Ford for the first time when he was an undergrad.

"In those days," Hanson said, "Omicron had an annual alumni banquet the night before Thanksgiving at the Detroit Club in downtown Detroit. Ford was a great man. He always supported Omicron. He'd come to that banquet every year. Not as a speaker. He was a regular attendee like everyone else, although we all were there in tuxedos.

"When we renovated the Shant in 2005 for the second time, we had every kind of effort you could think of to raise money. We had all this old Shant furniture that had been in storage for years. It was scratched up, moldy, worn out stuff, and we needed $20,000 to spiff it up, and he contributed," Hanson said of Ford.

"I went back and asked for an autographed copy of his biography, and he was delighted to oblige. And here's where the nature of those Dutchmen from Western Michigan comes into play. He had two conditions: I had to buy the book and send it to him, and I had to enclose a stamped return envelope," Hanson laughed.

"He wrote a beautiful sentiment in the book. He always supported us. He always visited the house when he was on campus. You'd be surprised how many of his classmates returned 10 years ago to a reunion. They all had great stories about him.

"Even though he was a member and captain of a double-champion Michigan football team, he never was haughty," Hanson said. "There was no distance between him and the rest of us. He was one of the guys. Although, I have to say he was a little different in that he never drank or swore."

DKE Executive Director David Easlick, Omicron '69, reinforces Hanson's depiction of Ford. "I met him for the first time in 1974. We were at the Shant. He was Vice President of the United States, and I was something like treasurer of the Omicron Literary Association," Easlick said.

"He had just been made VP, but he had come to Ann Arbor for a University event. We were able to free him for an hour, and he joined us in an event at the Shant. The old house had burned in 1968/69, and the chapter had just been recolonized. Ford told some great war stories. Bill Henderson [DKE International Executive Director at that time] was there. We had prominent people from Detroit, many alums and chapter members. It was a great event. He's never turned down a request we've made."

And that includes annual DKE alumni dues. "We received his dues check just a few weeks before we learned he died," Easlick said. Actives during Ford's era were the primary contributors to the Shant's first renovation in 1974. Ed Frey '31, Ford's early campaign manager, was a key contributor, and Nate Bryant, Omicron '40, was the driving force behind naming the Shant's "Ford Library." The Ford Presidential Library also is on the University of Michigan campus.

DKE was one of the first fraternities, if not THE first fraternity, to expand into Canada. Those strong Canadian chapters are what make DKE an international fraternity, and of the six DKE chapters founded in Canada since 1899, four remain active today. President Ford never visited Canada during the short time he was U.S. President, but he did Canada a major favor on the international scene.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had an ally in President Ford, who supported Canada's inclusion in the G8 in the mid-1970s. French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing invited the heads of a group called the G5 for talks, then added non-member Italy. But he was adamant that Canada be excluded.

Prime Minister Trudeau fought back, with some support from leaders in Britain and Germany. "But Canada's key friend was President Gerald Ford of the United States," reported an article at the time. Ford was "irate" about Canada's exclusion, and even considered refusing to attend. However, the President had a better plan. Just as France had invited Italy in 1975, he invited Canada to the 1976 summit in Puerto Rico.

"Once invited," the article reported, "President Ford concluded, you would not be excluded in the future." Canada became a member of the G7 as the group came to be called. It became the G8 when Russia joined in 1997.

Ford's lifelong commitment to DKE is well documented. Today begins a six-day period of mourning for our fallen brother and former President, of both the U.S. and the Omicron chapter, and Ford's personal secretary is working to arrange a seat for a representative of DKE at the first service in California "because the President would have wanted the fraternity represented."

2007 would have been Ford's 25th year as honorary chairman of DKE's Rampant Lion Foundation. When David Easlick first asked Ford to accept the position in 1982, he said he would co-chair with his former Secretary of the Treasury Bill Simon, Rho '51. Simon, at that time, was head of a leveraged buy-out investment firm. "He asked me to ask Bill," Easlick said. "Bill wasn't an easy man to reach, but when I got through, he agreed to it. I think Jerry had called him beforehand."

Easlick visited the Fords at their Rancho Mirage, California, home shortly after the President's 80th birthday. "He rattled off everybody in his pledge class," Easlick said. "He was just fabulous. Anything the fraternity needed, anything, he'd just do it.

"He sent a hand-written note to me when my wife, Susan, died," Easlick said. "And the last time I saw Jerry was at Bill Simon's funeral, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Bill Simon thought the world of Jerry, and Jerry gave a heart-felt eulogy that day."

For the next six days, heartfelt eulogies will be given for Brother Gerald Ford in California and in several venues in Washington. He has been eulogized extensively in major U.S. media. And as he joins DKE's Mystic Circle, where he is in good company with Dekes and former U.S. Presidents Hayes and Roosevelt, he will be missed by a world he influenced and the brothers, his friends from the heart forever, that he leaves behind.

December 30, 2006