Fort Bliss National Cemetery

Sad to hear Jay passed away. We were friends while he worked as a dentist in Pensacola. We lost touch when I moved out of Florida. He loved Point Clear and sister, June Baker and family. He spoke of Fort Bliss often. I'm glad he was buried there. 

I first met Jay in about 1949, when he was age 3 and I was age 6.  We lived two houses from one another.  At this time, I must have figured Jay was a girl, because my Mom reminded me, for years, that I  then referred to him as "Jay She."  The fact is he had the curliest hair I'd ever seen.  We were inseperable for many years.  How do I confirm this?  His telephone number in 1949 was 61284.  We froliced with our two heads poking through the one front hatch of his Dad's 26-foot long Chris Craft cabin cruiser "Silver Heels" in the Gulf of Mexico.  We played doctor with pretty Kathy Stevens who lived between our two houses.  We sang Christmas carols together all the way around our city block.  [Keep in mind I am Jewish!]  Sadly we began to drift apart when we both attended Spring Hill College.  I was crushed when I read of his early demise.  I loved his Dad, J.R. Quinlivan, too.  What Jay and I most adored was watching the Victory at Sea TV series and playing marines.  Jay was a competitor; he was QB for McGill High School's football team.  I know he was tough because he taught me how to tackle properly.  We boxed with gloves under his brother Jack's supervision.  At his Dad's summer house at Point Clear, we got eaten alive by mosquitos when we played Badmitton at 5 P.M.  His oldest brother had a 222 (not a typo!) rifle and took us to taget practice.  Jimmy deftly fired at a range of 100 yards or so. We shot Jay's 22 rifle at empty beer cans.  Jay's older sister June was absolutely gorgeous.  In my retirement I now restore electronic equipment made from 1918 though 1988.  Yesterday I got a query about restoring a 1950 Zenith console -- Yes, it was the very same model console the Quinlivan family always had in their living room.  Yes, a little bitty tear almost let me down, as I spoke to my next customer.  I related that Jay, at age 7 or so, got so excited when he played a portion of the William Tell Overture for me on that console.  Why?  Therein appears that clear trumpet playing the U.S. Cavalry charge -- to the rescue -- we'd heard so often in Western movies.  The military excited Jay as a child and, apparently, as an adult.                  

JAY PATRICK QUINLIVAN

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