Many years ago, one of Dad’s several dreams as a young man was to sing professionally as an operatic tenor.  He worked at developing his voice with the same discipline and enthusiasm he applied to everything else he did.  One of his life’s greatest disappointments was the day his teacher told him the dream was out of his reach.  As with so much else in his life, he turned the experience into a story.  “Fred, you have everything a tenor needs to succeed.  You have the dedication, the drive, the discipline and the tenacity.  All you lack is the talent.” With that his lessons were over but he never forgot the dream.  Before he died, he showed us a box of expensive handkerchiefs he bought – one of them for opening night of his debut.  He had saved them untouched and unopened.

On the day of the memorial service in September 2007 the family talked about his dream coming true and having his debut finally. Our plan then was to give you one of his treasured handkerchiefs as a mark of gratitude for your friendship and a symbol of his respect for you.  We wanted you to share in his opening night.  However, the handkerchiefs were misplaced and we could not find them for the service.  We thought about replacing them and giving you one of those.  Still, it would not have been the same for us.  We wanted you to have the original.  A few weeks ago we found them and have enclosed one for you to have as a symbol of our love and regard for you – and his. Nothing would have pleased him more than having you in the audience wearing this in his honor.

With gratitude to you,

Fred Smith