Months back I got an email that explained Romie was very sick; I drove to Virginia Beach to talk to him personally. When I arrived I talked to Chloe a few minutes expected to see Romie resting and conserving his energy but I was mistaken. I had to go out back and crawl under the house. There I spent the next few hours "under the house" as he worked on his heat system. Every time I visited I ended up crawling under a house or up a ladder because if Romie was able… that is where I found him. He did not sit around lamenting his situation, he was a planner, and he was always moving forward. Romie was a man who was always fixing and repairing something. He was a real optimist, confident where he was heading. As he wrote his closing chapter it didn't matter he was dragging a pump that was administering a constant stream of pain medication because Romie always had work to complete. I mentioned his medication pump because he probably had to work on it and study it, so he knew exactly what was happening because he was that kind of man? Romie worked and studied and read as much as he could. He was never to old to learn and he never gave up or took the easy way out. I know his final journey was very challenging but I will always remember Romie as a leader, a burst of energy, a light that did not burn out but moved forward.