Jamie, I have never known a Real Son, and am honored to
have "known" Mr. Basco through my connection with you. In
my family, our only Real Sons were gone before I was born or
shortly thereafter and until your post, I had never given any
real thought to the existence among us of Real Sons.

Your post prompted Pam and I to have an off-line exchange
on how many Real Sons might remain today. We reached
no solid conclusions, but surmised that given a Confederate
Veteran who enlisted at a very young age, say, in 1864, lived
to a very old age and married at least once, if not twice, to very
young ladies, it might be possible there could be as many
as 50 or 100 Real Sons living today - 145 years later?

As others have responded, Mr Basco's sad passing is one
more event in life that reminds us of our own mortality and
the ever quickening pace at which we each approach our final
rest.

My prayers are with you, Jamie.

Dennis