He was a good man and a great friend. He worked tirelessly as one of the four Brother Rat Productions group, who dedicated their time, character and passion to telling the story of the John Marshall High School Cadet Corps for the original “Brother Rat Productions” website. There were interviews with former cadets, the exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society, and so many other projects related to JMCC long before I met him and Bobby Joyce, and Brother Rat Productions was born.
I called him “Klinger” the role of the Scrounger of all things in the show M.A.S.H., for his tenacious efforts to collect every bit of memorabilia for the JM Cadet Corps and the website content. He engaged with the Jim Walthall family to acquire his vast film and photo collection and collected photos and scrap books from everyone for the web site which started as a DVD project and became so tremendous in content, it had to be set up as a website tribute. Bobby Joyce’s last request was simply “make it better than TJ”s DVD they had previously put out.
In a booklet Bob called THE EFFORT, he had documented the moving of the memorials from the new John Marshall when they were found to be spray painted and defaced. With the efforts of many, they were moved to their present location in Hollywood Cemetery. He sold the booklet for $15.00. There was little profit for him, as it was about the pride and work it took to accomplish a great task. For him, it wasn’t about the money; it was about engaging with the many cadets to whom he sold THE EFFORT.
Bob had requested that upon his passing, I scan and digitize THE EFFORT and have it put online at the John Marshall Cadet Alumni website for all to view, download or print and see the effort that many former cadets put into rescuing the memorials. To read "THE EFFORT" Click on the following: PART 1PART 2PART 3PART 4PART 5
