Lee Alexis died on July 14th.
I doubt that any of you knew him. I myself didn’t know him well. But there are just certain people who are associated with milestones in your life, and so you always remember their names when they come up.
Leslie “Lee” Alexis was a Chinese linguist in the United States Air Force, and he was one of my instructors at Goodfellow Air Force Base. I had just finished the Basic Chinese Mandarin course at DLI in 1982, and for the first five months of 1983 TSgt Alexis was one of those (along with TSgt Joe Adamiak) who gave me my first taste of what I’d be doing over the next few decades of my life.
Joe Adamiak (my section lead) was laid back with an incredible (and twisted) sense of humor. Lee Alexis was sharp and intense – a flyer as I recall. A classmate with whom I shared the news of his passing called him “the hammer” to Joe’s “good cop.” They both were gods in the field who could do no wrong as far as I knew. Even looking back on a long career, where I’ve know a few who were certainly better (and many, many more who were worse), these two men will always stand out as important to the formative days of my career and the path I have taken since.
But there’s something more to it than that right now. For a brief few years in the early 80s, Lee Alexis stood at the gateway to the careers of many of the Air Force’s Chinese linguists. But I’m far on the other side of that gateway now, and in the ensuing 37 years since that time I spent in Texas I’ve met, learned from, and mentored many others like him. I’ve known many who have grown as Airmen and gone back to Goodfellow to teach others. Many who today I would consider young men.
And I think now, “Was Lee Alexis ever a young man?” Of course he was, but to me he was always older. Always an icon. And it’s just a weird feeling to know, well over 10 generations (assignment-wise) of instructors later that some of the young men and women I’ve known since they were virtually “kids” are back there in Texas right now being the next Lee Alexis to yet another generation. They can’t be the tough and grizzled veterans of the job that Lee Alexis was to me, but they certainly are to somebody.
It leaves me thinking – in four more decades, on the other side of another long career, will one of their students hear about their passing and wonder where all the time went too? Will these old men have made their mark on a young life like Lee did on mine?
I hope they know that they can.
I hope Lee knew that he did…