I wanted to talk today about the word “grace”.
When we see something sublime or beautiful, we say it is graceful.
But, as a noun, a grace is a favor granted us by the world.
All around us, every day, there are hundreds of graces, large and small. Little beautiful things everywhere.
We stop and look at them if we have the time; sometimes we are too busy to notice them.
Richard Yamamoto was seldom too busy – he saw the wonderful things around him, appreciated them and gave thanks.
I will always remember that my conversations with him inevitably began with a remark about some little grace: a tree, the well executed experiment in Junior Lab, frequently a car. There was always something he had just seen or done that had made an impression.
He always seemed grateful for the graces the world had given him and was always ready to share them.
And now, today, I see his life as a grace granted to me and the rest of us.
And today, with you, I am grateful for the life of Richard Yamamoto.
Prof. Peter Fisher
Physics
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