A Tribute to Mahlon Dickerson Manson III

My brother, Mahlon Dickerson Manson III, died on July 3rd, 2006.

I've felt, over the years, as if Mahlon were my twin; a twin who took four years to arrive and join me. We were so alike in our thoughts and in our love for people. But so is our youngest brother, Joe, so maybe we were really triplets--born x years apart.

First a bit of history--Mahlon was named after our great-grandfather, Mahlon Dickerson Manson. The original Mahlon Dickerson Manson was a Union General in the Civil War, a war fought between the North and South of our country. (General Manson's picture can be found in Indiana State's Monument on "the Circle" in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was also Lieutenant Governor of the state at one time.)

The second Mahlon D. Manson was the older brother of our father, Harry Geyer Manson. Uncle Mahlon was twenty years older than our father. His mother, Araminta Lee Manson, gave birth to Harry G. in her forty-sixth year. Harry, along with his wife Madeleine Barnhart Manson, became the parents of Harry Jr., Marylee, Mahlon D. III, David, and Joseph. Marylee and Joseph are the only surviving offspring of Harry and "Mad."

Mahlon's passing is a gift to Mahlon. Because of an accident that befell him a few months ago, Mahlon encountered a difficult period: a time he bore with grace, and even humor, but in whose conclusion he has now found release.

Once, during his long struggle, Mahlon said to me on the phone, "I know I should be humble, but when I am so great, how can I be humble?" Then he laughed. His sense of humor was still alive and well.

In his life as a son, a brother, an uncle, and in his work as an interior designer, an artist, a photographer, a computer graphics specialist, a bookseller, a gardener, a philosopher, and a group leader, Mahlon has been loved by many. Besides our family's love for 78 years, Mahlon has also had the love of Bob, his partner for forty-four of those years.

Tears for my loss are still with me. But in 2000, Mahlon wrote to me and said, "When I took my first breath, God came into me. When I die, my breath will leave my body and go into the atmosphere for anyone to use."

He also said, "I can bring my mother or father before me and commune with them, or with anyone. When they died, their spirits didn't go anywhere. "

Marylee Armour, July 8,2006