From Ray, April 12, 2009, at 8:24 AM:

As we age, we get to understand the precarious lives that we lead (I attended three funerals within the past week — two of which were for friends that were younger than I am).

So what do we have? — Did we make a difference in other people’s lives? Jack certainly made such a difference — a big difference.

Jack certainly deserves that full military funeral.

God Bless
Ray

From m.esch, April 14, 2009 at 08:40 AM:

My sincere condolences to the friends and family of Jack Hunter for your great loss. There are more comments on Mr. Hunter’s loss on the aerodrome forum: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/books-magazines/40978-jack-hunter-gone.html ~m. esch WW1, aviation enthusiast

From Fawn, April 10, 2009 at 1:49 PM:

I have thought of you so many times over the years and I am so glad to see you are still cranking out books. You don’t stop. I remember way back when you would write them with pencil and paper.

Jack, you helped me grow up. Not just as a writer, either. You are a good man and I hope God is right there with you as you deal with your health issues. You are such a good man.

From Nib, April 10, 2009 at 2:01 PM:

I don’t know how many people he helped. It was a big number — even bigger when it rolled out counting those that the people he helped helped and so on and on. Truly remarkable when you consider that alcoholism untreated is a fatal disease.

From Gordon, April 9, 2009 at 6:34 PM:

Jack is by far the most talented man I’ve ever met. Not only is he the great novelist, but a talented painter to boot (and Jack is color-blind!). I told him this once and said if he was a talented musician he would be a triple threat. Then Jack told the story of how he grew up playing the piano and how he paid his way through college playing piano in an orchestra. One day when the orchestra was on a break, a lady came up to him, placed a piece of music on his piano and said she wanted him to back her while she sang. He told her it was against union rules, or some such thing. She fumed and told the orchestra leader. The leader fussed at Jack, told him it was hard enough finding gigs during the Great Depression. Jack said, “I didn't want to tell her I couldn't read music.” The leader replied, “You can't read WHAT?” Jack had become an accomplished musician without the benefit of reading music.
Give him by best,
Gordon

From Marilyn, April 9, 2009 at 5:32 PM:

I am praying and thinking of you often, asking the Lord to please have Our Hero remain with us, here on earth!!

I hope you know that your countrymen (& ladies, such as I ) are oh so proud of you, your bravery & Military record as well as your many other successful attributes! We sure need more LIKE you!

May God Bless You & Keep you, always,
Marilyn, Wichita, Ks.
(widow of Marine Fighter Pilot )

From Phillip, April 9, 2009 at 3:37 PM:

Here is some very endearing correspondence I had with Mr. Hunter. I thought you might like to post it on the blog:

Dear Mr. Hunter, in your novel “The Tin Cravat” one of the characters said to Stachel something I will paraphrase here: I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn't only to die and find out there is. To me, that was such a profound statement, and I’ve quoted it many times since then. I’ve always wondered if you are the author of that line. In German, there is an old expression that people use when they hear someone quote something they haven’t heard before. They ask “did that grow on your own dirt?” To me, that line has become a kind of a guide, and I wondered if it grew on your own dirt.
Warmest regards, Phil

Dear Phil:
I wish I could claim to be the originator of that philosophy, but I first heard it from my father, a pragmatic, common-sensical scientist-engineer, when I was a mere tad. He and Mon and I were on the way home from church one Sunday a jillion years ago and I blurted the question: “Daddy, how do we know there's a God?”

He thought for a time, then said, “Something in us tells us so. And when we believe that, it makes us better people.”

“But how can we believe it?”

And that’s when he spoke that line. I don't know if it was original with him (I tend to think so because it’s an abstract that rings with an engineer’s logic), but whatever its origin, it has haunted me, consoled me, through all of my years.

Jack

From Jim, April 9, 2009 at 3:36 PM:

JACK AND I SHARED SOME GREAT TALES AND FLYING STORIES. I HAVE 35 YEARS OF SOBRIETY AND JACK HAD MUCH MORE — MAYBE MORE THAN 60 — WE’LL ALL MEET AT THAT GREAT “POST GRAD” MEETING IN THE SKY