Carolina Military Academy
An Alumni Association
CMA Memorial Service
Move Your Mouse Over Photo To Identify Subjects
Presentation Ceremony For The 1st Annual
Col. Leslie C Blankinship
Memorial Award of Excellance
Since A Close-up Photo Was Not Available Of
The Award
The Last Proof From The Engravers Is Being Used.
This closing was given by Frank Lea following our Hall of Heroes ceremony.
You don't need a doctor to tell you this vessel that has propelled you through the last five or six decades is wearing down. Sickness has given way to illness and then to disease. It is our common destiny for our bodies to wear down and then to wear out.
Then what sustains us? For some it is a religious belief that something better awaits us. For others it is the small things that take on more meaning as we age--- looking into the tired but loving eyes of a lifelong companion, the smile of a grandchild, the never ending miracle of nature, or old friends. This is about our classmates, our old friends.
Many of us arrived at CMA as confused and misguided adolescents. We left with our lives on better footing and with more resolve than when we came. We owe CMA a debt, but it is a debt we cannot repay. Our friends here help you to return in memory to what in retrospect was an almost magical time in our lives.
When I come to these reunions, I wish for my old and dear friend. We were in public school together and then we both went to different boarding schools only to reconnect at CMA. After graduation, time and circumstance took us in different directions. But when we came to our first reunion, it was wonderful to see him. He returned to our reunions each year until ill health stopped him from coming.
I go now and then to where my friend is. He lies in a grave a few miles from my home.
Time is fleeting. Time is precious. Seize the moment.
