Guest Book

Along time ago I got to know Pat Conroy very well under unusual circumstances to say the least. I was a domestic relations lawyer in Tucson, Arizona. Pat was then married to my client's ex-wife. The parties to this set-to had two children, and without getting technical we had a two-week battle in Superior Court over jurisdiction of the custody question. Would it be in Arizona or Georgia? Pat had taken to writing my client (a brain surgeon) the nastiest, funniest well written letters describing in great detail the moral, physical, paternal and other faults of my client, some of which I did not know a person could have. All those letters came into evidence, and I got to cross-examine Pat for two days about each of them. the letters were only partially relevant to the legal questions, but the judge gave me wide latitude to go into them. I am now convinced the judge was as curious about the workings of Pat's mind as everyone else in that courtroom. With only a minor toot of my own horn I did not let Pat get the best of me. I was well taught in the art of cross by my father and other trial lawyers before I examined Pat. It did not matter. Pat came across as the brilliant man he was, with emphasis on his wicked and wonderful sense of humor. I felt sorry for my client. Deep down he knew that much of what Pat said about him in the letters was true. Later on, I ran into Pat at an airport and we talked about the case over cocktails. I told him how much I enjoyed the encounter and he said that he did, too. His parting remark to me, with a twinkle in his eye was that I should be thankful he never had the opportunity or inclination to examine my faults...
Amen to that. I miss him.