We recently received the sad news that veteran thriller writer Nelson DeMille passed away at age 81 from throat cancer.

I only had one encounter with Nelson and that was at the 2017 ThrillerFest convention in New York City.

While introducing myself to Nelson (whom I knew was a life-long Long Islander), I said, “I’ve lived in Utah for fifty years but I grew up on Long Island – Hempstead High, Class of ‘63.” Nelson replied, “Elmont High, Class of ‘62.” He went on to say that Elmont and Hempstead competed in sports and that he was on the track team that competed against Hempstead High runners. I asked him what races he ran and he replied,”the 100 and 220.” I told him that I also ran track (for Hempstead High) and that those were the races that I ran. We figured it out that we ran against each other in 1962. How bizarre! He said that he set records at his high school. I didn’t even come close to that. I just really enjoyed the feeling of running at top speed.
It was a pleasure to meet him and find out that we shared a long-past moment in time.