Paul Sutton

Remembering Paul Sutton

15 July 1999

Joanie,

What a terrible occasion to trigger so many warm and wonderful memories.

While I won't be able to join you in person Saturday to help celebrate Paul's life, I certainly will be thinking about you and Paul with much love.

I'm so glad you were able to join him at the Cape for the Surveyer launch... I bet it meant a lot to him to have his family share in the culmination of so much of his effort over the last few years.

Paul was my best friend at Northrop Institute of Technology, and it was always a joy to me that he got to know my other two best friends, Paul Muns and Bob Hunt... oh yeah, and those nice folks who lived on Anderson Way in San Gabriel!

Last night Bob assured me that if the opportunity arises, he will share with your kids --with his inimitable style and first-hand perspective-- the story of how Paul and I got him elected Senior Class Treasurer at Northrop, even though the only time Bob was ever on the campus was the day we brought him over to vote for himself! I know you've heard the story many times... it is one of my favorite Paul David Sutton memories, and surely one of the all-time-great college pranks.

I also think about our mutual love for cars in general, and our BMWs in particular. We used to joke about opening "Sutton and Gray's Flower and Speed Shop"... (well, it *was* the Sixties :)

We used to call him Suttonich... but I can't exactly recall why. Perhaps his Russian background? And that reminds me of the time we visited his folks in Redwood City... they were so gracious! (And that's also where I learned how hard it is to say "no thanks" to a third or fourth helping of food offered by his mom, who had nearly starved in the great Russian famine.)

I'm probably not the only one of his friends who is now feeling remorse for not being more proactive about keeping in touch over the past few years... Sigh. And so it goes.

Please convey my very best wishes and thoughts to all of your family.

-Terry

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