I worked with Jay for many years.  I miss his good stories, his positive attitude and the his good cheer.  Of all those we worked with that have preceeded us, I miss him the most.   A remarkable individual.

One of the lovely traits Jay had was finding a way to connect specially with each of us.  Knowing that I teach law, Jay often engaged me in conversation about the law.  From our conversations, I discovered that Jay was a fierce protector of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Jay also was a careful student of the United States Supreme Court and kept up regularly with the decisions issued by the Court.  If you've ever read a Supreme Court decision, you'll know that's a mean feat.  Supreme Court justices usually are verbose, sometimes bombastic, and always present their opinions as objective capital "T" truth.  In other words, Supreme Court opinions aren't really that much fun to read.

But, Jay thoughtfully dissected the opinions--generally scrutinizing to see which justice was (or was not) interpreting the Constitution in a way that Jay considered intellectually honorable.  Whenever I knew that Ben and I had a trip planned to Albuquerque, I knew I had better be prepared to talk law with Jay.  It was like having to get ready for a law school class all over again (but, in the best kind of way)!

Jay and I held very different views about the importance of the Constitution. For Jay, it was a revered and sublime document.  For me, it was no more nor less than a document bounded by the limits of human imagination and the contours of its time in history.  What was lovely about talking with Jay, though, is that the point of our conversations was not to convince each other about whose world view was right, but to explore with each other how our views affected the ways we interpreted what the Supreme Court was up to.  Of course, we all know that Jay was ardent about those things in which he strongly believed.  So, trust me when I say that while Jay and I weren't trying to change each other's world views, that sure as heck doesn't mean that we just were having polite small talk.  It wasn't, "Jay:  Oh, what a lovely little turn of phrase that Ruth Ginsberg made.  Me:  Yes, she's got such a way with words, doesn't she."  It was, "Jay:  That Justice Scalia is crazy in the head when he interprets the Second Amendment.  Me:  Why do you think the Second Amendment has any special power that Scalia feels he has to respect?"  And on and on . . .

Anyway, I am certain that each of us can think about some way, probably many ways, that Jay made us feel special.

I felt treasured by him as a daughter-in-law, and as a law professor, and as a dog lover, and on and on . . .

Jay:  I love you and I miss you.