I have decades of memories of Mark, but the first day I met him is an image imprinted in my mind's eye that I often visit. It was July, 1963 and about bazillion degrees outside. It was the afternoon my family was moving into the rental house on Alameda St. in Altadena...I was six years old. Magically, over the back fence came a pair of hands holding a tray of frosty iced tea. The fence was so tall you couldn't see her face, but it was Roberta Lewis, Mark's mom welcoming us to the neighborhood. And if that wasn't magical enough, the voice of this invisible person invited us into her backyard. The gate opened and there before me was the most magnificent pool I'd ever seen. In my six year old memory it was Olympic size. And there in the middle of the pool was a tiled fountain, and sliding across the fountain on his belly was Mark Lewis. When Roberta called his name to introduce us, he jumped up on the fountain and waived wildly. There he was in all his exuberant glory - colorful swim trunks, golden crew-cut, wet brown belly, and humongous grin. And for the rest of that summer, in my eyes, Mark Lewis was by far the best belly-slider of all. Many summers have passed in the fifty years since that first meeting…to think about it is extraordinary. I'll miss Mark here on earth, but will continue to pull that favorite snapshot of him from my heart pocket and take a peak now and then...all wet, round, and waiving wildly.