"Slugger" as we called him was my grandfather. His life was an interesting one. The son of a coal miner, he fell in love with mathematics and rose to become a peer of Fred Brooks by creating and leading the UCF CS Department. Outside of work he built an extraordinary home, nurtured a deep spirituality, invested in his community, took naps in the grass of the front lawn, and gave his grandchildren silly nicknames.
I am the only descendent so far to take an interest in computing, which gave us a special relationship. He asked me brain teasers and math puzzles from an early age. He told me to figure out the formula for how many total billiard balls were in a triangle of depth _n_ before I could use his fancy pool cue. Then he asked me if it was possible to perfectly comb the hair on a billiard ball and how I would rearrange the order of donuts on a broomstick. Later we would discuss advances in "intelligent systems." He was adamant it would do my soul good to take coursework in "rubber sheet geometry." Perhaps I will someday.
Even in travels to foreign countries former students would recognize and approach him to share how much they enjoyed his courses. I am posting here in hopes of collecting more stories to share at the memorial.
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