Probably not nearly as many people knew about Marion Reasoner as knew about Christopher Reeve, Rodney Dangerfield, Jane Leigh, or Ken Caminiti, but I want to note his passing here. He was James Reasoner's dad, and I met him only once, at a WWA convention in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the early '90s. A group of us went out to dinner one evening there, and we decided to have our picture made while we were wearing western garb. James is in the front row on the left. I'm in the back row on the left, with Judy beside me and Marion Reasoner beside her. We were a tough-looking crew, right? Okay, maybe not. Anyway, Marion was a great guy, and Judy and I both took to him immediately. I bought my first VCR from him and James way back in 1981. It was top of the line and cost $1250. Hard to believe. I paid for it with my half of the advance from the Nick Carter novel I wrote with a friend named Jack Davis. I'd never written a check for an amount that large before, and I screwed it up. My hand was probably shaking. Marion was kind enough to send the check back and let me write another one. I think I screwed that one up, too. Another member of what Tom Brokaw called "the Greatest Generation" is gone, and the world is a poorer place today.
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