Let me tell a couple of stories about Gerd Frike, Professor of Mathematics & Statistics, who died on November 15, 2016 in Florida, and was buried in Mt. Zion Park Cemetery in Beavercreek, 
Ohio, Nov 21, 2016.
I have a photograph of Edward Willett, a WW II Tuskegee Airman, and Gerd Frike, a WSU Mathematics professor, whose father was in the German army during WW II.
In 2012, as I was hosting some Wright Staters, including Bob Silverman, during Gerd's 2012 visit, Ed Willett dropped by my home. Since Mr. Willett was a "very long story teller", I told him, when I let him in, that I was having a special gathering, but he was welcome to "sit in," to which he replied in his very deep voice "Does that mean that I cannot talk?"
I said, "No, you may talk, but no long stories." Ed took a seat at the table, and I introduced him as a Tuskegee Airman, and then everyone began questioning him. After an early question, which Ed thought would take a longer answer, he looked at me and asked "Can I answer?" I said yes, and immediately lost control of the gathering.
When Gerd visited me last June (2016), he immediately asked to see Ed Willett. I told him that Mr. Willett's health had deteriorated, was in a nursing home, and was suffering from Alzheimer's. Several times during this visit, Gerd asked me to take him to see Mr. Willett and each time I refused.
As Gerd was leaving my home to drive back to Florida, his last words were of the great visit that he had and his regret in not being able to visit Mr. Willett.
By this time Silverman was dead, but Gerd, the German immigrant whose father fought in Hitler’s German Army during WW II, and this Tuskegee Airman whose unit participated in the bombing of Germany during WW II, had had an opportunity to share a table and stories which captivated the rest of us.
It is ironic that that the photo that shows Silverman, Willett and Fricke together in 2012, all died in 2016, in March, November & November, in their 80s, 90s & 70s, respectively.
C'est la vie!
