Letter: A gifted man who is truly inspiring

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

I absolutely loved Joe Schoenmann's Feb. 9 story on UNLV history professor Hal Rothman in the Las Vegas Sun. Hal is an incredible man, and although the article made me sad, I also found it so uplifting. If I ever need, and have, a fraction of his courage in my life, I will be satisfied.

My husband Dave and I met Hal back in the mid-1980s, when he was doing the administrative history at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, where my husband was chief of administration. I remember at the time thinking how incredible it was that this man, who was younger than I, was so astounding and the word brilliant crossed my mind often.

One of my most vivid memories of Hal was him riding in the back seat of my car, carrying on an extended conversation with my then-gabby 3-year-old son, Scott. I thought at the time that if he could do that, he can do anything he wants in life because I had never seen until then, and haven't seen since, a person who seemed to so genuinely enjoy speaking with such a young child as Hal did at that moment. That vision brings a smile to my face every time I think of it.

Cherie Paulissen, Boulder City