Gay Galiher

Gay was the kind of person you either loved or hated - there was no middle ground. He was outspoken and opinionated. He was an active person who played a role in everything within his reach. He would ask and answer questions freely during the NROTC classes that we shared. He was on the drill team and the rifle and pistol teams starting with his freshman year, and he was the person who convinced me that I also should join these teams.

"There were two principal physical tests at Corpus Christi; I was led to believe that failure at either of these could jeopardize my scholarship. One of the tests was the classic obstacle course, the first of many I would encounter in the following years. Though it appeared formidable the first time I saw it, it turned out that you didn't need great physical strength to run the obstacle course in an acceptable elapsed time. But I didn't know that. I had never been a physical person, and I had no reason to think I could prevail against the obstacle course. . . ."

"With help from my friends, I made it through the course the first time. My performance wasn't very good, and I didn't make all the obstacles on my first attempt at them. But my friends helped me correct my technique, they urged me on, and I made it. Once I realized that I could accomplish what to me was an extraordinary physical feat, self-confidence in my physical prowess reached tremendous, and totally uncalled-for, heights. I stopped doubting myself quite so much and started to acquire the attitude that whatever was asked of me, if others could do it, then I could do it. . . ."

"The second of the physical tests was for swimming ability. I no longer remember the details, but some minimal swimming ability was required of all midshipmen. You had to perform several individual tests, proving you could swim some insignificant distance and showing reasonable proficiency in the use of different strokes. Slight problem: I had never learned to swim.

"Again, my friends came to the rescue. They spent the time to teach me the strokes I needed, they helped me train, they encouraged me. When it came time during the last week in Corpus Christi to take the swimming test, I was barely ready. The first tests were fairly easy, though, and I made it through to the grand finale."

"The final test was for distance. It was free-style, no time limit. But it was, at least to me, some God-awful distance, like 1500 meters. That's a long way, so maybe it just seemed like that: I can't say. For this test, my friends taught me the backstroke and told me to use it. So for lap after lap, I backstroked the pool. I had managed to get a lane at the edge of the swimming pool and for the entire distance three of the best friends I ever had walked beside me. Correcting my technique, extolling me on, encouraging me, not letting me fail. And I didn't. . . ." (Excerpted from Images from the Otherland.)

Gay was one of those friends.