[antimedia] antimedia: Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert - In Memorium

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by antimedia:
Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert - In Memorium
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1157947742.shtml


   The greatest measure of a man is the lives that he touches. By that
   measure alone, Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert was [1]a great man. A
   doting father, loving husband and much-respected Naval officer,
   Tolbert is remembered not only by his superiors and peers but by the
   men who served under his command as someone who cared deeply for them
   as individuals.
   One enlisted man who served under Tolbert emailed me as soon as he
   discovered that I would be eulogizing Tolbert for [2]the 2996 project.
   He wrote, "he was always jovial, professional, and ready to talk
   football. I know he is missed by many who served with him in the
   Navy."
   Tolbert's neighbor, Dean Chalk, said "Vince made you feel good and he
   made you feel loved and he made you feel respected,".
   Family, neighbors and fellow sailors aren't the only ones who praise
   Tolbert. His college football teammates from Freso State do as well.
   Lorenzo Neal, professional football player and former college teammate
   of Tolbert, [3]described a man who was head and shoulders above the
   average.

     When Neal played for Tampa Bay in 1998, Vince Tolbert was stationed
     at the nearby air base and had Neal to his home on Thanksgiving and
     Christmas.
     "That's the kind of guy he is," Neal said. "He gave me a key to his
     house and said I could use it any time. A God-fearing man. A family
     man. Two beautiful girls and he just had a baby not long ago."
     [......]
     "If there was a guy you looked up to and wanted to be like, it was
     Vince," Neal said. "He was a wrestler, too, (Neal was a state
     champion in high school) and was great at the shot put."

   Steve Mooshagian, Neal's teammate with the Cincinnati Bengals and
   Tolbert's roommate in college still held out hope, after the attack on
   the Pentagon, that Tolbert would make it out alive.

     "He was a guy you loved having in your huddle," Mooshagian said.
     "It would be 100 degrees out there and he wouldn't miss a turn. He
     wouldn't look for a way to get out of the huddle. He was one of
     those guys who never stopped or quit. That's why, just knowing the
     way he was as a player, I'm not giving up hope."

   In one of those ironic twists of life, Tolbert's father, a former Navy
   aviator, was [4]was on his way to Tokyo at the helm of a United
   Airlines flight when the attack forced him to land in San Francisco.
   He watched the news of the attacks unfolding on monitors at the
   airport there.

     Then he learned the Pentagon also had been hit. He called his wife,
     who had talked to their daughter-in-law. After that, the news
     worsened. Officials announced Wednesday they didn't expect to find
     any of the missing at the Pentagon alive.

   An even deeper irony is that Vince, as he was known to his friends,
   worked in Naval intelligence and was [5]well aware of the evil of
   terrorism.

     Nancy Tolbert recalls her son's chilling description of suspected
     terrorist Osama bin Laden as if it were an omen of bad news to
     come:
     ''He would say, 'Mom, you really don't know how horrible he is. You
     just don't know,' '' Tolbert, of Brentwood said yesterday, just
     hours before her son, Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert, was buried in
     Arlington National Cemetery.

   Now we all know.

References

   1. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ovtolbert.htm
   2. http://www.dcroe.com/2996/
   3. http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=903
   4. http://www.tennessean.com/special/worldtrade/national/archives/01/08/08666635.shtml?Element_ID=8666635
   5. http://www.tennessean.com/special/worldtrade/archives/01/08/09075399.shtml?Element_ID=9075399