Eulogy for a Fighter Pilot

One of my favorite writers, Pat Conroy, eulogizes his father, Col. Donald Conroy, in this oft-printed piece from 1998. Col. Conroy was the real life "Great Santini" made famous by his son's novel, which was turned then into the Acadamy Award nominated film starring Robert Duvall. Pat Conroy, throughout his career, has attempted to articulate the reconciliation between damaged families and meaningful lives. He has, in my opinion, done so successfully with equal parts humor and heartbreak.

Some of you may have heard that I had some serious reservations about my father's child-rearing practices. When The Great Santini came out, the book roared through my family like a nuclear device. My father hated it; my grandparents hated it; my aunts and uncles hated it; my cousins who adore my father thought I was a psychopath for writing it; and rumor has it that my mother gave it to the judge in her divorce case and said, "It's all there. Everything you need to know."

What changed my father's mind was when Hollywood entered the picture and wanted to make a movie of it. This is when my father said, "What a shame John Wayne is dead. Now there was a man. Only he could've gotten my incredible virility across to the American people."