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Thanks, Mary Ann. Very sweet of you both.

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Thanks, Karalei. Pete and I hadn't seen much of each other the past three years or so, but we kept in touch. I'm assuming now his absence might have been because of his health, which he never told me about. He was a very private guy for all he did in the public to assist others.

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Thanks, Mark. And yeah, he was a good man.

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Thanks for a very fitting tribute to our friend Pete McRae. He was always available to me and a fun interlocutor during our too-infrequent breakfasts. You mentioned his commitment to developing future leaders, and I point out that Austin's kick-ass City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes is a graduate of the Academy of Pete.

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Thanks, Roger. I never saw the Ford film but now I'm going to look it up. I don't think there's been a modern biography done on Flipper. Of course, not sure one could be sold to a publisher these days.

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Thanks for reading, Kathleen, and learning about a good man's life.

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Thanks, Ed. He was a good guy with a lot of friends.

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Thanks for the eduction, Jim. My politics are long on theory and short on actual facts😃. It was an excellent tribute to what sounds like a good man (good men, really).

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Jim, Thank you for writing and it was good to see you yesterday. Pete was such a good man. I wish there was a way to carry on Rising LoneStars. It is such a worthy endeavor. He had recorded a short clip about recent "LoneStars" to be used for possible radio segments just days before he died. Having met him as a teenager, years before either of us embarked on a career, I feel fortunate to have had him in my life for so long. And more than a little cheated for it not to have been longer.

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Jim, that is a fine tribute to a good man.

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Thank you for sharing this story.

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That's a wonderful story for a friend and a Texan.

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Forwarded to my daughter (and son), and she said, “That is a good one.” She lives in Austin.

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Great piece, Jim. Love the Harry Chapin reference. I'm guessing Flipper may have been part of the inspiration for the John Ford film Sgt. Rutledge.

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