Hilary’s much loved father- and my dear friend and father-in-law, Ken Cooper died this morning at 5:30 at 92. Not so many 83 year olds have a father-in-law at all, and I had a beauty. I was nuts about him. Hilly had gotten here to Florida the day before and I arrived at midnight… just in time to say good bye.

He had a wonderful sense of humor, and damned if he didn’t think I was funny. Excellent.  SUCH a good guy…kind, loving, and caring. BUT with a bone dry wit.

Here’s a risky example.

He had a rare and horrible form of cancer which, bizarrely, was more common among dogs than men…especially Bernese Mountain Dogs, for some reason. I loved that and told him: “Ken, if you find yourself sitting on the edge of the bed, licking your naughty bits, get ready; the end is near.” He howled at that, loved it.

He was a life-long foreign service officer. As a young man he had been a diplomatic courier, with an attaché case chained to his wrist. His beat included Pakistan and Afghanistan and he regularly travelled over the Khyber Pass when it was a goat trail and very dangerous. Before that he served in a submarine in WWII. He and Florence, my mother-in-law, just celebrated their 60th anniversary. Their marriage was one of the best I’ve ever seen. She was the smart one, perhaps…Barnard and Oxford. But he was pretty smart himself. And he made her laugh.

The end was no fun: Hospice, morphine and then he slipped away. Such a wonderful man. How we will miss him. Chris