It is December 28, 2002. I was a Philosophy graduate student at WKU in 1983-4. I was just watching something that said who you are is mostly defined by a relatively few number of elements, including around 5 pivotal people. I started thinking: A year or two ago, I was asked who were the wisest and smartest people I ever knew. Hands down, Larry Mayhew was the smartest person I ever met. Many think I have a large ego. I just am confident that I spend more time thinking about some things than most people do. Larry Mayhew was someone with whom I sat down and there was no question about who knew more or learned faster.

I thought, by now, as smart as he was, there might be some interesting publishings of his noted or posted on the web. I typed in his name and the first thiong that popped up was his obituary. I called a friend with whom I studied Philosophy at WKU and with whom I often speak about how smart and how good a teacher Dr. Mayhew was. He wasn’t home, yet.

I’ll keep reading, but, so far, I have only read his review of a certain compiler of the computer language, PASCAL. After school, I sold computer equipment, but any programming was the most basic OS configurations. Anyone who knows me should know that it says a lot that he made me feel stupid.

While I’m here, I should mention that in my first semester of graduate school, I was shaken by shifting philosophical foundations. Dr. Mayhew took me to dinner to talk about it. Less thn two years after I was diagnosed with MS, over seven years ago, I called and spoke with Dr. Mayhew, and he said he remembered me.I have oftern said that his mind was like a logical sorting machine: Plug in a question and he would spit out the three possible solutions.

I know he made a difference in a lot of lives. Here’s one who wants to submit some composition about it.

Larry Perrault

[email protected]