Remembering Russell
To trusted pals of Russell and new acquaintances for me (or him), I called Russ the “car nut” and myself the “religion freak”.His 3000 model cars and my religion newswriting and history scholarship made us an off-beat “odd couple.”
Despite his agnostic streak, Russell embodied a sacral instinct for diverse music, historic holy settings (England’s Salisbury Cathedral;
La Sainte-Chapelle de Paris), the ritual power of classic races, runs and rivalries (Indianapolis, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Grand Prix, Running of the Bulls, Yankees-Red Sox clashes).
His pervasive axioms of spirit in body and brain were velocity, veracity, virtuosity and victory. Drive fast! Doubt and Debate! Do Absolute Best and Win! Imagination–rainbow like–bridged the challenging gap between spirit and matter dignifying each and every one of us as human creatures.
While stints at schoolbus driving and U.S. Post Office work (in his Dad’s tradition) helped finance his undergraduate Pace career, his professional “Logistics” posts included Atlantic Container Line, American Can, Panasonic, Empress Seafood. By far the longest and most diversified administrative assignment was with Nissho Iwai, a Japanese company that addressed logistical issues for varied clients, including NASA during the 1991-94 moonshot period.
However no job or travel site from Manhattan to Alaska to Florida to Texas to Ireland could seriously tempt him to relocate far from his beloved County Westchester where he was born, reared, romped and now at last peacefully, blessedly rests.
So, by ordained ministerial power vested in me by my United Methodist Church parental priesthood, by international, ecumenical and scholarly prophets, as well as by the State of New York, I declare Russell’s hearty life race won hands down, not by a nose or whimper, but by furlongs we each do well to go for.
-Rev. Frank Lloyd Dent Ed.D.
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