R.K. will be missed

To the editor:

There was a time when R.K. Butts and I were fellow frequent contributors to the editorial page of this newspaper.

We didn’t agree on much, and on a couple of occasions, when R.K. was sufficiently exercised by what I had written, he did not hesitate to call me in order to call me out on my latest Frontiersman-published missive.

We wrangled over the phone for 10 or 20 minutes, saying our pieces and agreeing to disagree on the topic at hand.

And then, as we each ran out of steam for the immediate issue, we actually talked to each other — not as friends, perhaps, but in a sort of mutually respectful way that allowed us to find out, for instance, that we were both U.S. Army veterans.

I read that R.K. wrote his own epitaph to the Frontiersman and then died by his own hand. In a way it makes sense.

I don’t think he cared to let others make decisions for him in life, so why shouldn’t he check out his own way, too?

When you think about it, it was very R.K. of him.

Bill Siedler

Wasilla