07-07 Ian Gone

It was 6:00 PM on October 29, 2009, and Meg called from California. “John, I am sorry to be calling with such terrible news. Ian died today of a heart attack.” I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
Here are excerpts from my obituary, read at his funeral service on November 6th:
“It is impossible to understand Ian without knowledge of his father. They were the same kind of people: self made, self taught, hard working, enterprising, thrifty, financially cautious, fiercely independent, passionate in their politics, intensely private, uncompromising of their principles, intelligent and highly organized. And most importantly, they placed family and country over self.
They danced to their own drummer, decided what they wanted to learn and what they wanted to master. Dad became an authority on Rhodesia when it was under British rule because his two best school chums went there to join the Rhodesian Mounted Police. Ian became an expert on WW2 history because of the Holocaust and what that meant to so many members of grandfather Halter’s family.
Ian and Dad were in continuous conflict during his teenage years; but as Ian grew into adulthood, they became the best of friends. And the many trips Father took to see Ian in Nassau, were the happiest experiences of his life.
The brothers all share wonderful memories of our life with Ian. Ian and I travelled around Europe in 1954. And all four of us cruised together for a decade after our father’s death.
It would be Ian’s wish that his children develop the same kind of bond that his brothers have enjoyed over the years. It would be one of the most wonderful things they could do in his memory.
Goodbye, dear brother. You were loved. You will be missed. You will be remembered.”