14 December 2016, 08:05
RIPYes we are diminished.
I spied Larry from across the lobby at the NRA 2016 Annual Meeting in Lousiville, walked up to him and said, "Hey I know you, R. L. Wilson." He smiled and stuck out his hand for a shake, and I tagged along with him for a while, chatting about what a "definitive" author I thought he was. Then he was off to do some book signings. I bumped into him later that day at the Ruger Collector's booth:
About this time there was an announcement over the P.A. that the Leadership Forum was about to start in the auditorium. I asked Larry if he had a ticket for it. He said he did not. I told him I had an extra because my wife had gone to Florida to attend to her mother having surgery.
He said "Let's go."
We had about 10 minutes to cover almost a mile, indoors, across the convention center to the auditorium, Fredom Hall, home of the Cardinals.
Larry took off at high speed on his electric-powered scooter and I had to jog to keep up with him.
It was wild. He drove that thing like a man used to driving race cars, and indeed he was used to the likes of owning a Ferrari and Mario Andretti's Indianapolis car ... a while back.
Well, we made it, weaving and racing across the complex, did not run over any person in the throng.
No wreckless driving charges arose from the "cannonball" convention center plow. Then we lined up to be searched before entring the arena proper.
We heard Not-Yet-President-Elect Trump shmooze the crowd. Indiana Governor Mike Pence was there too, half a year before he became VP-Elect. Two very different styles. The Odd Couple of Politics.
Between speakers I got the low-down from Larry about the Frazier museum charges against him, long since dismissed. It is mentioned here,
buried in the long list of his accomplishments:
http://www.wilsonbooks.com/WilsonBio.html
We did not talk about Larry's stay of nearly a year, a decade ago in the federal pen at Lompoc, CA.
Since he was riding a scooter and we were in the upper level stadium seats at half court, I sprung for the hotdogs, sodas and icecream cones. We had a great time.
He was not interested in attending the Toby Keith concert at the YUM Arena later that night. My wife missed that one too.
Surely I did not hasten Larry's demise with the junkfood we shared in the bleacher seats at Freedom Hall, he downed it with gusto. Me too.
He was a quick wit, not at all introverted, seemed in good health, great spirits, and I assumed the scooter was due to some purely physical/orthopedic/degenerative issue, just not as fast a runner as he used to be.
Our world is diminished by his passing, for sure.
R.I.P. Robert Lawrence Wilson.
