Chuck Mathias
Wes, ever since I began the process of stealing your sister away from the Wilkins family 50(!) years ago, you've been more brother than brother-in-law to me. Sharing half a century of good, sad, and crazy times makes for a ton of memories to unpack, true, but what I'd give to add another ten or twenty years' worth to the pile…
Classical music nerd that I am, you know how I envied you for sharing your birthday with Beethoven; if the coroner's right, you wound up just one day shy of celebrating your 69th and Ludwig's 250th. On the plus side, you did manage to outlive the old boy by eleven years—nowhere near long enough to satisfy those of us you left behind, though.
The saddest thing about the timing of your departure, of course, is you won't see Trump dragged out of the White House—although who knows? Maybe where you are, you'll have a better view of it than we will. Hopefully, we'll be able to compare notes someday—until then, all my love, bro!