By Jimmy Patterson

It has become an all too frequent headline of late: Midland loses another person of character. Sadly it happened again with the September 11 passing of David Mims, a man of the highest sort of integrity. A kind of man of which we have not nearly enough.

David was simply one of those people whose faith was evident in his walk. The words of St. Francis are immediately applicable: "Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary." Just by looking at and observing David from across a room, it was easy to tell he was a man at peace with his life, happy and content with his faith and love of Jesus Christ. It showed.

I remember once a few years ago, David called me with some concerns over something I had written in the newspaper. He and others didn’t care for an opinion I had shared. We had a conversation about the piece. It was the most civil ‘disagreement’ (it can hardly be called that) that I had ever been a part of. By the time our talk was over, David had been so kindly persuasive that he had me seeing his point of view. It remains, as I recall, the only time I have ever felt  better about someone who had called to take exception with something I had written.

But that’s the kind of man David was.

Although I didn't know him as well as I would have liked, it would be a safe assumption, I think, that David never held a grudge. And so I was fortunate enough to be able to chat with him again this year, in between bouts with the stomach cancer that eventually took him last week. He spoke with me openly for the "History of Character" book and recalled stories of riding his bike all over town and always feeling safe when he was young, a story not unlike many others recounted by others who grew up here.

David is mostly a lifelong Midlander, save for college and a brief hitch in Houston, and moreover is one of those people who give away more than they keep, and his beloved Midland is the beneficiary of his kindnesses.

“From my earliest memories, my parents were involved in the community,” David told me earlier this year. “Dad was on the city council, mom was on the PTA. They were very active. Their friends, all the people they ran with, all had the same lifestyle.

“Becky, my wife, and I came here in 1977 and by the summer of 1978, dad had volunteered me for a new board to form a county-sponsored child care center, which was ultimately built in Taylor Park.”

David noted that organizers had originally contacted his dad, James, to be on that committee, but dad deferred to son on this one. It was serve as a sort of a kick-start to what would become a lifetime of generosity to Midland.

David attended Texas A&M and met his wife, Becky, at Auburn University  grad school. A long-tome Rotarian, David was also a volunteer with the Chamber of Commerce, First Baptist Church, United Way and Midland Development Corporation. Doubtless there are many other organizations to which he gave time, effort and talents.

Above all, I will always remember David for his quiet, gentle spirit. Quick with a smile and a handshake, he was one of those rare individuals that left you simply feeling better about the world after time spent with him. And, anyone able to make you feel good about something you had done that had caused him concern … that, especially, is a rare individual indeed.  

By Jimmy Patterson

Dr. Charles Younger and 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush have been friends since the fourth grade. That friendship was fortified when Younger, and Bush, then a young West Texas oilman, would, coincidentally both move back to Midland in 1975. According to Dr. Younger, their friendship has continued to grow, even during the president's two terms in the White House.

Interviewed this week for the forthcoming book, "A History of Character: The Story of Midland, Texas,"  Dr. Younger recalled watching the premiere of "We Were Soldiers" in the White House movie theater along with President and Mrs. Bush, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, actor Mel Gibson and several others. That movie night on Pennsylvania Avenue was an occurrence that Dr. Younger still vividly recalls and speaks of fondly almost a decade later.

Dr. Younger told of how he and his wife were to have vacationed with the President and Mrs. Bush and a handful of other close friends at Camp David, Md., in a trip that had been scheduled for the weekend following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. For obvious reasons, the trip was postponed.

The Midland orthopedic surgeon, like many others, remembers today the look of concern that enveloped President Bush when, while reading to a group of Florida elementary school students, he was advised by Chief of Staff Andrew Card that both of the World Trade Center towers had been hit by airplanes ten years ago this Sunday.

According to Dr. Younger, in a conference call this week to supporters, the former president recalled the anger he experienced at not being allowed to return to the White House in the hours immediately after the terrorist attack -- a move carried out by the Secret Service in an effort to protect the President and First Lady.

This is, for many, a difficult week as the nation recalls the anniversary of those attacks which still serve to separate time on the country's historical clock as pre- and post-9/11.

"I think it has to be (tough) for him to a degree," Younger said. "In the conference call earlier this week, the president went through things that went through his mind from that week and a couple stood out: the anger he felt at a couple of occurrences, number one, the communications system wasn't working very well that day, and secondly, that he was told that he was not going to get to go back home to Washington in the hours after the attacks. He was extremely upset about that."

Dr. Younger, who today maintains a relationship with Mr. Bush, said his friend "relished being president" and "woke up every day looking forward to what he had to do."

It has been written often and Dr. Younger confirmed again Thursday that Bush, "was the same man as president as he had always been. I think a lot of his values stayed the same, his morals stayed the same, his work ethic stayed the same. He didn't really change, and he hasn't to this day."