Growing up in Schenectady, NY, I was very much the introvert that I am today. I was a good student and good athlete but had few people I would consider real friends. Dan Neville was one of them. We attended Mont Pleasant High School together where we both were in the concert band, marching band, and cross country team. He was a gifted musician who could make a tenor sax sing like no one else. We shared many classes together and he was a brilliant student, the only classmate that I ever looked up to intellectually. He was also a kind and gentle soul.

By our senior year, we were spending less time together. I had dropped out of the band, was all consumed with wrestling, and spent many nights taking evening division engineering courses at Union College (nerd with a capital N). I was also dating my first real girlfriend and spent most of my remaining free time with her. After graduation, I lost track of Dan. Every couple of years since the internet became a thing, I have attempted to locate him with the hopes of reconnecting. This evening, I finally found him. Sadly, I am 13 years too late.

Dan died in 2009 of cancer and it was his obituary that led me to him. He lived in Chandler, Arizona, was a teacher, and is survived by a wife and son. The memories and condolences shared on that website paint a picture of the man I knew he would become. It is odd that I should feel so grief-stricken after so much time has passed. We only knew each other for a few years and yet I have carried the memory of that friendship with me for almost half a century. Dan, I have missed you but will continue to keep you in my heart.