Benton Hall

Merrell and my cousin were friends in Houston and from that friendship I offer what I know, which can be filled in by those with more knowledge of his death.

Sometime ago, Merrell was diagnosed with cancer. I called him at that time and he was feeling great and not sure about the diagnosis. Supposedly, the cancer returned with a vengeance. He was released from the hospital and sent home on hospice and passed shortly afterwards.

I had teased and goaded Merrell for years about returning for a Class Re Union...but he wouldn't have it. We had been friends in high school and roomates in college.  I owe him a great deal and am thankful for his impact on my life. 

was reminded by a mutual friend that we had gone to Camp Crucis together with Win back in the 60's. I enjoyed Win and we also wound up in an 8th grade class together at Wedgewood. It didn't take many days before the kids in the class realized we were an experiment. Seems they had clumped most of the good students together in one class. Once realized, we became almost unmanagable and Wedgewood scrapped the idea at the end of that year. 

Win was always positive confident and fun. I appreciate him and the memories.

Worked Six Flags with Allen and stayed at his house some. He would terrorize us on his car pool days to work. Years later I talked with him at the car lot. I enjoyed his company and just felt compelled to write. 

Chris attended Wedgewood Jr I think and a bunch of us became better friends at Paschal.  Brett Wilson would have stories to tell and I hope Wadley will chime in here.  I consider myself in the second wave of friends with Chris.  Loved the 'Double O style' contest he won Senior year, the great Benbrook Lake crossing we did on rafts and floaties and inner tubes, and the Viking Feast in Forest Park which turned into a water balloon fight. 

I am sure there are many more stories.  I believe Chris fought in Vietnam. Some said he was a sniper. I know at the 20th he was living in the country north of Ft. Worth along the Jacksboro Highway somewhere in the trees, which made me jealous. Warm, charming and fun...Appreciate his service.

Benton

 David Norman Reed

     What fun memories I have with one of the all time great guys from our class. David and Loudermilk and I carried off a senior trip to Galveston. We collected small crabs on the beach at night and released a bag full on an unsuspecting floor in the hotel that stretched out into the ocean...GalVest or something. Loudermilk and I were trying to surf(a painful experiment) and when we got back to the beach, Reed had been interviewed by a Houston newspaper for a story on surfing...we were as pale as the sand and obviously not surfers...but relished the thought of our pic in the Houston paper!

    A bunch of us worked at 6 Flags...Joe Argue, Allen Elder, Loudermilk, David Garrett and Reed.  We would carpool together. 6 Flags created their own social life including parties with kids from all over the metroplex...Reed had a date with a cute girl from Dallas one night and surprised her by reaching over the front seat and exhuming a cold bottle of Champaigne from a bucket of ice. Too funny. 

   Later, David and I roomed together at Texas when i transferred from TCU jr year...at least we did when he wasn't sleeping  on a couch in the Newman Center on Guadalupe having stayed up studying to get into law school.  We never knew when David would show up at the apartment, so we nicknamed him "The Lurker".  He made sure i was on the list for Pike match dates with different  sororities since the SAE's were on restrictions. 

   Lots more stories about David who married later in life to a great gal from a family of Longhorn fans. I agree with all the above...what a great and humble guy.  He will be missed next summer.

Brett and I did a ton of stuff together, including papering blocks of our neighborhood one night with court reporters ticker tape...There was not a crack large enough for me to hide in the back seat of dad's Edsel on the way to Trinity Episcopal the next morning as we drove these same streets.  Strategy has always escaped me. For years in middle school, he was my best friend and we rode to Paschal in his 1958 Mercedes Coop...4 on the column and FM radio with a sunroof!  Miss you Amigo...