My brother, Donald Norman West, returned to Jesus Christ last February. I haven’t spoken of his Immortal Soul passing because I knew and loved him very, very much. He was a man of God and Nation First, a Father to his son, James, and daughter, Nicole; a husband with all the ‘life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that entails when cleaving to his wife, Ilene; a loyal, supportive, patient friend to many individual Persons among all of his life’s roles. Don gave of himself to the best of his ability at all times and in all circumstances. Jesus knows him and loves him.
The number 5 Commandment: “Honor Thy Mother and Thy Father.”. Father and Mother did perform their sacred honor in making sure Older brother, Charles Edward “Cap” West, and myself, the middle-sister of attention, and Don were well taught “Of all dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports...Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?”, with the knowledge, wisdom, a.k.a reason / reflect / relate-understand connections both seen and unseen of those two Axioms of “separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them....Our specific, unique “family”. It wasn’t large, but it was “great” and expansive in knowledge, wisdom, support, coaching, patience - often needed, in silence which occurs with youth lacking understanding and making huge mistakes about the individual Persons comprising our family: Great Aunt Ruth, Great Uncle Don, Aunt June, Uncle Jack (late 30's, Spring Training with NY Yankees at first base), cousin (and my sister who has loved and protected me ever since little girl) Kay, cousin Jack, a great friend and still great ‘drummer’, in past with “Tijuana Brass”.
The Five of us ‘The kids’, had and are having, the wonderful privilege, threat / opportunity, risk / reward, strength / weakness of growing up in the aftermath of WWII with all its “Course of Human Event: - of Satan, man’s inhumanity to mankind of proportions not even closely met by the worse of any among the “Human event of radical Jihad / Sharia Law, their false god of man supreme to The Creator of Life; contrasted with some of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind on earth, the magnificence of which, occurred because of One Person’s life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as “purpose-goal through serendipity-peculiarity of circumstances in invention, research and development - all living and inanimate objects - tools of the unique knowledge, wisdom, Truth which an unique individual made, or had happen, - to himself and by discursion...to those he knew and even those he would never know... : Laws of Nature’s God.
God and Christ are so magnificent. There aren’t really any words for Them are there? Just Do What They Tell You To Do. There is “..no religious Test..” that is able to be applied to state of man in the role of governance; for man as a collective-group becomes an indifferent, living object subject to the top-down decisions made by the few, who declare themselves greater than the sum of the Whole comprising that ‘state’; rather than just One Person in Oath of Office; in Truth to “One People” on earth; and in Duty, Honor, Service because of “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. ..” .
Because of Mother, all of us learned to face, and with a mixture of success and failure, the very, very hard, personal ‘owning of accountability ‘ among the most difficult challenges presented in each of our lives in relation to the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God accompanying the paths of righteousness to the very, very small, narrow gate to return, upon judgement of “Deeds not words.” to Heaven: Facing when you lied, did perform a wrong or sinful act, or other giving-up something you valued at that point-of-knowledge, wisdom - liberty and pursuit in our life stories. That is the reason knowledge, wisdom for Truth begins in The Bible or The Torah or for those person’s absent the name God or Jesus Christ — their sense of “Justice: The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men with each other; honesty; integrity in commerce or mutual intercourse.”.
Don was a leader: We went on a hike down “Bright Angel Trail”, switch-back down into the Grand Canyon and back up, hiking. When the bunch of people got together, no-one knew the others in the group, and we were spread out along the trail. That night there was a campfire. Some like me, were tired and just went to bed, trying to decide how the heck I was going to hike-UP Bright Angel Trail; but Don with others sat around the campfire with quiet talking and laughing. ..
I started to overhear. I heard Don talking and sharing.... and the group became a whole of individual, persons sharing with each other - experiences. You might doubt that Don made a difference; but the group didn’t start talking at all until just after the campfire got started... It was after Don related an experience that laughter and warmth of the fire and surroundings that opened the sharing. Don and I shared love of genuine, “sneak preview movies” at Fox Village, hiking, tennis, fishing (except me - I couldn’t kill the worm or the fish - used salmon eggs and never caught anything). Mother, Dad, Cap, Don, myself never said, out-loud, much about our love for each other, though at that time it wasn’t the word...just a way of keeping in touch with what moved heart in love of learning and life of sharing with complete Trust in each other. I was very independent, didn’t join-in; as well as a ‘big sister’. Don often had to ‘tolerate’ under very trying circumstances only the little brother of a family often does, or persevere, because that’s also learning Nature’s God.
Don was a risk-taker: He went one of the last basic training classes in Monterrey Bay, CA and was chosen to attend Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning. . He telephoned me from Fort Benning one day. I was very surprised and very proud and pleased. He said “I’m going to quit this!”. Much words to the dictatorial, unreasonable, punishing attitudes of the “Sargent” or whatever rank was involved. I just listened... then I heard this: “If the shoes in your locker are not on the line, absolutely correct, the whole area is torn apart.”I was an RN-Diploma Grad at the time working at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles in the then 4West Cancer - leukemia area.
I explained to him, the shoes Must Be Perfect, or you lose your Squad. Every single, minute detail Must Be Considered. Once Don heard that, it was all he needed... he flew through OCS. Don’t think I’m relating this because I knew... I didn’t know, except I knew who Don was...and I knew that all he required was that little link to connect the whole. I’m using words in writing this now, I didn’t have when the conversation took place; and I was in my own “learning hardship” - chronic lymphocytic leukemia was not chronic – it was a terminal diagnosis.
He then worked with the R&D which developed ‘night vision’ glasses - though that was ‘classified’ at the time. I think he left the service a Captain.
Years passed and there were problems with Ilene, me, Nicole and Jim; but the highlight for me was being a “Chaperon” accompanying Nicole’s 8th Grade class to Washington DC for the up at 5am, bed at 2am, about 6 day tour which included Mt. Vernon, Montecito, Gettysberg, with lunch at Pennsylvania Dutch Restaurant of “Bump don’t Bell”. It was terrific - though I’m not sure I survived well, and Nicole may have thought me a ‘bump’ she didn’t need; especially when I yelled to her inside the Supreme Court Building “Nicole, you could do this.” ;-) [I meant it!]?!.
Don was one of the engineers sent to Kuwait to build their petroleum plants. He lived there for several years with Ilene, Nicole and Jim. In the Kuwait government of ‘ruling class’, the engineers were, with the other employees, considered “worker bees”.
Though I don’t have all the terminology Don used, he related this story to me: The worker bees stopped working and were standing around a big storage area looking up...Don in charge of that “worker bee group” ascertained what was stopping the work:
Some kind of valve or connection was leaking fumes and no worker bee would climb up to repair the leak. It was known to cause cancer among the worker bees.
Don said to me “I climbed up and fixed the leak.” both of us knowing full-well what he was saying. ....To say the least, it was an incredible moment in both our lives. Me for respect in his most difficult decision; and him “I really did that!!”. I kind of know that he was concerned about “stupid” verses “risk-to-the-Goal and purpose- for Kuwait and for his company”. At the time, before Hussain attacked Kuwait, we didn’t even consider the ramifications. We were silent together for several moments. I’m not even sure what I said to him; but I know Don...and I think I said something like “You did what you knew you had to do.”.
Now, the war in Kuwait is long gone. Don knew I knew what his diagnosis meant. : Don knew and I know, that the leak could well have been an early sabotage thwarted completely by Don’s action; for the fields had to be burned down during the war making them useless for Hussain and delaying Kuwait’s petroleum assets. Don did get Kidney cancer. His company met and exceeded all requirements for his care..including much research and development. Don “They have paid for everything.”. I don’t remember the name of the company, but Don said they stood by him throughout all the terrible illness did to Don’s life, liberty, and pursuit of a risk in the name of a decision, which had to be made, in that tiny, brief moment of Don’s professional career.
Cap passed to Jesus in 1990 14 days after a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. He also was performing and inventing R&D for both hardware and software as computers entered the world. He was involved with the communication and use of development of ‘credit cards’; and also wrote hardware/software for the mortgage industry which he had copyrighted by going, in person, to the Library of Congress and the Patent Department because it “was interesting and fun.”.
“Honor thy Father and thy Mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”; for they did Learn and Teach all they could in “Religion and Morality”; for knowledge, wisdom, Justice in Truth, to each-one-of-brother and sister, for all the risk-rewards, threats-opportunities, strengths-weaknesses every Person in our small, Great Family possess.
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