Just moments I ago finished one of the most thrilling conversations of my life!
Yeah, I know, you've heard that kind of Styble hyperbole before. But this ain't hyperbole, Pal. Nope, this is genuine excitement, generated by a lengthy chat with a long-retired high school mathematics teacher--and then subsequently a highly successful St. Louis-based tax preparer--named J. Harold Vaughn, or as I merely knew him starting back in 1969, just Mr. Vaughn.
I've been hugely desirous of speaking with him again for many years, but I just finally made the telephonic connection within the hour. If the RadioactiveUniverse reader finds that name a bit familiar, it's because you read my "The Count Ends at Three" essay, easily accessible just a few entries below.
And I'm this excited because I not only had the most wonderful chat with this man who has meant soooooo much to me in a considerable number--pun intended, yes--of ways, but also because I learned I'm going to soon meet with him over lunch or dinner, perhaps this coming January.
I told him, without exaggeration, that literally he's the third-ranking person on the planet I'd like to meet with at a nice restaurant over a fine meal.
Those familiar with Bryan Styble's quirky ways already know who Number One is (that would of course be Dylan [reference sister blog www.RadioactiveDylan.blogspot.com]) and that Number Two would be my late father, Lewis John Stibal (1921-1986), but of course that's flatly impossible.
But I kid you nor even exaggerate not: Number Three is James Harold Vaughn, and I am delighted to report his mind clearly remains as razor sharp today as it was in 1969. And I'm going to again shake his hand, G-d willing, as soon as January 2013. (Wish I could say the same about Audrey Stibal, longtime beloved wife of Lewis cited above, whose brain has been gradually and oh so heart-wrenchingly wasting away, due to the scourge known as Alzheimer's, since 2004.)
I just can't wait until January. But I'll have to.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
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