Viola Lee Hamilton

One last good-bye one year on. Words fail me. Love you.

Dear Lee,
I used to call you Crazy Lee because it sounded good, and you were so much fun. You were the youngest and most approachable professor I have ever met! You were so young, upbeat, energetic, and successful I was envious! I was not a student at the time, but I had the pleasure to participate in one of your witness identification experiments. You had my French friend Babette and I race through your classroom screaming in French while my husband and another of your brilliant...

Lee, you were my introduction to the profession of sociology, in 1975, and what I learned as your research assistant has helped me tremendously over the years. I will never forget our late night efforts to interpret cluster analysis, or meeting Bob Groves in ISR on the way to the Del Rio on a Friday night.

Somehow the days were longer and the passion was stronger, but we were young and foolish and not yet ready to publish before we perished.

So now that you became famous and...

Best colleague I ever had. Remember those days at Michigan. A better friend than I deserved. The world will be a lot less fun without you. You always live in my heart.

I can't believe your gone. The best colleague I ever had--remember those days at Michigan? And a better friend than I deserved. The world will be a lot less fun without you. You will always live in my heart.

Loved ya, Lee, you were the smartest most exciting...so alive, so wonderful. I cherish those months. Indelibly enriched my life, for sure.