Mike and I became friends in the fourth grade at Bryant. We became closer through after-school sports and boy scouts. Later we took several road trips and camping excursions into the high cascades. Carp was always dependable. He was the one who remembered to bring things like matches and a hatchet...the rest of us were pretty much flakes. After our school years, we were relocated in separate directions around the country. We managed to get together at least once a year. Thanksgiving in Connecticut, the Army/Navy game in Philly and a really fun wedding in Reno stand out in my mind. Mike was a loyal friend and generous in every way. He died too young at age fifty.