Klarinet Archive - Posting 000212.txt from 2006/03

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Marine Band Clarinetist slain in Iraq
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 16:19:36 -0500

In a message dated 3/11/2006 8:29:59 AM Central Standard Time,
blummy@-----.net writes:
The slain hostage was a former Clarinetist for the DC Marine Band from what
the article says.>>

Yes, Tom Fox was a career member of the "President's Own". He was a fine
clarinetist and bass clarinetist.

After retirement from the band, he entered the food industry, working at
"Whole Foods".

But, as a lifelong Quaker, and a sensitive, caring person, he felt he had to
do something to help others and to improve the lives of people less
fortunate.

So he left his business career to join the Chicago-based Christian
Peacemaker Teams in order to do this very thing. (You can read more about the
Christian Peacemaker Teams elsewhere. They are NOT missionaries, but dedicated
people who go to trouble spots and help ordinary people get through their lives in
difficult situations.)

Tom was a quiet, intelligent, and caring person. He liked baseball. He was a
loving parent.

He was also a family friend. He was a college friend of my wife. I met him
over 20 years ago when we lived in the Washington, DC area.

Even though we moved to the Chicago area, we stayed in contact and he was a
frequent visitor to our home. Before both of "tours" in Iraq, he was in
Chicago, and came and stayed with us. He explained how he felt the need to help
others, and what he hoped to achieve in Iraq.

After the news of his abduction, we had been hoping against hope that a
miracle would happen and he would somehow be released. But that was not to be the
case. We lost a good friend. But more than that, the world is poorer for
losing a person who gave so unselfishly of himself, to help others.

Walter Grabner

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