Guglielmelli, Tony Ray

It is rare to meet someone who exudes love so strongly that you can feel it upon first meeting. I hardly knew Tony at all. We were briefly neighbors in a San Francisco apartment building not long before his death, and there were no signs of his illness when I sometimes greeted him at our mutual mailboxes. I agree with everything stated in his obituary, especially the facts that he was good-looking and that one knew right away that Tony was special. There were many men who, similarly, died at a young age during the worst part of the AIDS epidemic, and it is sad to remember that he was one of them. He was a blessing to this earth, and his memory continues to be an inspiration. Decades later, I still aspire to inspire through example the way he did.