One of my 1st crushes! In 1st or 2nd grade, a group of us played Flash Gordon - John was Flash, and I made sure I was Dale Arden! Tim Wyman was Ming the Merciless, and Kathy Haviland was Ming's daughter Princess Aura. He was such a calm, caring, gracious, gentle, and strong person even in grade school - with a delightfully wicked sense of humor! After high school, we might've run into each 2-3 times, but then in the final 2 or so years of his life, we reconnected - long talks on phone and I was firtunate enough to see him in person when he came to visit relatives in Chicago. He was so inspiring!