Letter: Empathy, counsel will be missed

Monday, March 8, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

I am writing from Atlanta, my recently adopted "hometown," but I was born in Las Vegas. I graduated from Valley High School in 1981, just a few years after Mike O'Callaghan finished his second term as governor of Nevada. Tim O'Callaghan, his son, was a classmate and friend of mine. I remember meeting Tim's dad for the first time and being impressed with his handshake, big smile and magnitude of presence.

I was Valley High's student body president at the time and I had just finished competing in the Sun Youth Forum. (Sen. Harry Reid, who then was between his terms in office as lieutenant governor and U.S. representative, was our group's facilitator.) I had the privilege to be selected as the student who would write a column about my Youth Forum experience and this further facilitated my relationship with Mike O'Callaghan.

Over the next several years, Mike mentored me as I made my way into the world. When I was applying for college, Mike wrote a letter of support for my application to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. I ended up spending the next four years there training to be an officer in the U. S. Coast Guard.

I visited Mike in his office each time I came home for a break and continued to visit him even after I resigned from the Academy in 1985. I had come to terms with the fact that my sexual orientation was not compatible with U.S. military service just shy of graduation (this was 1984-85) and Mike supported my decision to "come out" and voluntarily resign without any judgment.

I gradually lost touch with Mike over the years, but will never forget his genuine, kind, empathetic and wise counsel.

Knowing him made me a better person. He is responsible in part for my commitment to public service through my work in public health.

Thank you and goodbye, Governor.

SEAN DAVID GRIFFITHS Atlanta

Editor's note: The writer is a senior policy analyst in the Office of the Director in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.