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March 2010 - In Memorium - Brent Willard Carlson
1943-2010
Judge Arthur M. Monty Ahalt (Ret.)
In 1961 I met Brent Carlson while a student at the University
of Maryland when we both pledged at the SAE fraternity. He was a freshman and I was a sophomore. I knew that
a friendship was likely in store as my then girl friend, now wife, Sandy, said after meeting him at a social
- "I really liked that red head.". I should have known then that he would become one of my best friends. We
both were married shortly after that and coincidentally, moved into apartments right across the street from
each other. Brent was a freshman majoring in agricultural economics and I was a sophomore in agriculture
economics. Brent was determined to graduate with me - Paige was on her way and he was a man in a hurry to
take over the world. Somehow he convinced the dean to take night courses
- something that was never allowed - 24 credit hours a
semester. We would take many of the same courses and by watching each others lights
across the street, we would see who stayed up the latest studying. I would claim that he just left the light on and
was sleeping - but I am sure he was really burning the midnight oil. He reached his goal and we both graduated in
1964. He graduated in 3 years. He took a job with Ford and I went to law school at American University. We
continued our friendship, meeting every Friday for lunch at Maggie's restaurant on Wisconsin Ave, in Washington
DC.
Ford was just several blocks away and American several
more. Life was very busy for both of us , young families, I worked a full time night
job in addition to law school and Brent was outworking everyone at Ford. There just wasn't time to get our families
together so we started a tradition of meeting at each others house on New Years day - a tradition that continued
until Wendy passed away.
The measure of a man is his character and the character
traits and gifts that he was endowed with by his creator. I am sure every one might identify different ones for
Brent - but here are my top five -
1. Persistent and Zealous
2. Diligent
3. Fair
4. Determined
5. Loyal
Lou Holtz is fond of quoting Aseop who penned the phrase - "when all is said and done
- more is said than done" - with Brent it was always - more done than said. Brent was a man of few words but many
actions. He moved at "warp" speed long before the term was made famous by Star Wars. Wendy, his wife, often was
reining Brent in from going too fast. My son Kevin described this characteristic as "a spontaneity that made Brent
fun to be around and lifted up everyone around him". He remembered one instance on New Years' Day when Brent
tackled, to the surprise of everyone, Wendy on the couch - "stop it Brent" Wendy intoned and we all shared a hearty
laughed.
In all that Brent did a pattern could be seen -
1. He always had a vision
2. There always was a strategy - Brent was a very
strategic thinking individual. He would figure out a
method to win.
3. Enthusiasm - if you look that word up in Webster, you
might be surprised to learn that it is the power of the
Spirit of God
4. And work work work - no one out worked Brent. He
was the first in the office and the last to leave in the
evening.And that was after arising at 4 AM , running his
5-10 miles, mucking out Wendy's stalls, feeding the
horses and still being the first one to arrive at work.
Brent had a keen desire to compete. He wanted to be first.
And he knew that success was never about the individual. So at Xerox Brent was known
as one of the most organized leaders, always enthusiastic, always committed to the success of everyone else. He was
a great team leader.Never did he have a negative thought or word. He once told his friend, Curt Tyrrell, that the
first thing you need to do every year is to figure out the compensation plan - because management was always trying
to change things in their favor.
Very early in his career - when Xerox had a push to put coin operated copy machines
in retail stores - Brent went out and sold machines to every Sears and Roebuck store in the nation establishing a
national account. Never mind that it broke all of the Xerox sales territory rules and that he had to fight for a
very well deserved and large commission. But he did it and he became the Xerox salesman of the year. Because of his
many admirable character traits, his engaging personality traits and his winning ways, Sandy and I were privileged
to name our 2nd son, Brent after our friend Brent Carlson. It was interesting when our Brent was also born with red
hair and has developed many of those same winning ways.
I had the privilege of meeting with Brent many times over the last 7 or so years and
observed how all of these many traits helped him deal with his constantly deteriorating physical condition. And in
our discussions it was clear that he had developed a deeper connection with his God.
Brent knew Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior and was looking forward to
spending eternity with Him. As Paul told Timothy in the the Scriptures. - " I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, I have kept the faith." And so Brent has fought the good fight and finished the race. Brent
,while
we will meet again, we all will miss your enduring qualities and winning
ways.
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