Letter from Dan Covey

Bill, Bret, Miguel and I were tight in high school, then I headed east to WSU to begin my transition into a right wing wacko, and Bill ended up at Evergreen, which tends to lead a person down the opposite path. That’s my rationalization for why we grew apart over the years, but I think that even though we almost never saw each other, and only traded occasional IMs on Yahoo, I think that Bill never considered our friendship to have diminished.

Bill could convince me to do just about anything, like make a spur of the moment 36 hour round trip pilgrimage to Reno, or by a drum set so I could joint his band—even though we both knew I had neither the rhythm or credit limit.

The four of us were living in the U-District in Seattle when I got run over by a car. Bill was the first one to show up at the emergency room, and after I said I was OK, he laughed at me for 10 minutes. But Bill was the one that changed the dressings on my back and rear end for almost a month, I think that’s an example of why he could get me to do almost anything, because I knew he’d do anything for me.

I took him for granted when I knew he was a phone call or e-mail away, and now I really miss him. That’s the last lesson he taught me, you can’t take a friend like Bill for granted.

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Dan Covey