"Merry eyes and a mischief grin" -Neil M

1. Life advice: I’m on an upper deck of the Queen Mary, which is about to cast off from a Manhattan pier for England. Down below, I can see my friends in the waving crowd, including you.
And I hear your voice, merry and clear: “Neil… don’t be shy!”

2. Paragon: From what I know of Vanessa, and from what I’ve seen written by students and faculty pals, perhaps her greatest gift is her example of all-out advocacy on behalf of people who really need it. She totally embraces the rightness of their cause, and puts in so much of her blood and sweat. It’s not just what to do, but how to be.

3. Party time: Talk about formative-year experiences! 111 Pinecrest Drive, at the end of the long living room, with our group. (Whose 45s were those? Yours? Your brother’s?) I can see them all there—Kathy and Anne, of course, and Carl Adams and Tom Murray, Robert Rainwater and Elaine Mayer, Bob Bedoukian, Mary Ann Zahurak, Jay Balloffet, Bob Kedney and more. I see you with your merry eyes and a mischief grin. I remember your mother coming in or maybe we would visit with her in the kitchen. And the cats! Fantastic. I remember meeting your brother several times and, maybe once, your sister, and maybe twice, your father. I don’t remember him saying much but he wasn’t scary.
It was a magical place, and you let us play there.

4. Next act: If Vanessa had all the time in the world, I would say why not something completely different? Novels, histories, photography, preaching? (nah)… Maybe inspired by her working life, maybe totally made up… Vanessa will be great, in an exciting way, in just about anything she does. If only she gets the chance.

Neil M