In Memory

Hartley S. (Lee) Armen

Hartley S. (Lee) Armen



 
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05/29/14 09:17 AM #1    

Mark Cowell

Ley (he always spelled it that way) and I were best friends in the weird days of college and I have so many wonderful memories of him although some of them don't make a lot of sense.  Ah, but we had fun.  He had the first banjo and first 12-string guitar I ever saw.  But beyond all that, he was a man of strong principles -- he thought out what he believed and acted accordingly, never backing down.  I was in awe of him when he married Jere Siefert and went off to built a self-sufficient farm in the Maine wilderness.  We talked about the milleneum -- New Years Day, 2000.  The sun first hits the United States on the top of Mount Katahdin and we made a pact that whatever we were doing, we would get together and watch the sunrise from the summit.  I did not know he had already passed away in the fall of 1999 and I agonized about that pact.  54 years old and out of shape, there was no way I was going to be able to reach the summit of Mount Katahdin in the middle of the night in the dead of winter in Maine.  But since I thought he was still alive, I was certain that he would be there.  And, I suspect, in spirit, he was.   I hope it was a great sunrise, Ley.

Mark


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