Best Friends in 8th Grade

[Left: Art C. at ENMS. Right: Art C. and me at ENMS 2002 Reunion.]
Art C. and I were best friends in the 8th grade. He was a smart guy with a great sense of humor and I really admired him. Still do! He was the younger brother of cadet Alan C. -- both of Las Vegas -- once again the Vegas connection between ENMS cadets forging strong bonds. Art and I just hung around all the time whenever there was free time to do so. During the 7th grade, Art lived in the small dorm and I in the large. During the 8th grade, Art continued in the dorm and I moved over to the Junior wing with fellow band member Wayne K. Art was in the 4th platoon. We both made corporal during 8th grade and Art received a sergeant promotion at the end of the 8th grade -- a nod that he would be expected to shoulder greater leadership if he returned during the 9th grade (which I don't believe he did because his brother Alan C. graduated from ENMS during our 8th grade). I didn't hang out with Art in Las Vegas like I did with Don and Fred. I learned during the 2002 ENMS Reunion that Art was now heading his father's successful Las Vegas business. Art, now a "captain" of industry, had a wonderful family of his own -- a lovely wife and two children. An interesting tid bit that I learned during the 2002 Reunion was that the reason I went to ENMS was way different than many other cadets. Some kids actually wanted to be at ENMS. Art wanted to be next to his older brother Alan -- a senior and platoon leader. Wayne K. wanted to be with his older brother Mark -- a senior and the cadet company commander during our 7th grade experience. Had I had this perspective while a cadet at ENMS, I might have had a less stressful time thinking we all didn't want to be at ENMS. Not true! There were kids that really digged being at ENMS. Maybe that is why Art and Wayne were a bit more laid back than me. After all, they had their brothers around them while Don and I had ours locked away from us over in the Junior school -- an interesting twist don't you think. [Here's what Art wrote in my 1964-65 Academy yearbook. "Orman, you have been my best friend this year. I have had a lot of fun here with you. I hope to see you in Las Vegas this summer and I hope our friendship will last for a very long time.Your Friend, Arthur C."] I saw Art only a couple of times after leaving ENMS when we lived in Las Vegas and then when I was enrolling for courses at UNLV, I ran into him with Fred J. registering for classes too. Since then I have been out of touch with Art and when we got to the 2002 ENMS Reunion we didn't get much caught up as so much was going on. But, if anyone made ENMS fun for me it was Art. Thanks for being my best friend at ENMS, Art!