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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 8 rie. The land served its purpose, did its job with an implied sense of the need for hard work and coming to grips with a dose of hardship intertwined. If you lived in Wyoming you needed a sense of self and a sense of humor, because the weather could change in a mo- ment. Interstate ramps are gated, a reminder of severe weather that could shut down travel at a moment's notice. But then again, I had never been to Wyoming. It took me all of about five minutes in Buffalo, a town of 5,000 people, to understand why the berg fit Tiller and his wife of 50 years, Arnette, so per- fectly. It was quaint, eclectic and rus- tic. It was the perfect place for the pair to share their passion for art and antiques. There was no perfect place or time to say goodbye to Tiller, but Buffalo was as good as it could get. We arrived early enough for the visitation when the crowd was small. That allowed Jim and I to spend time with Arnette and daughter Julie. There was sadness and laughter, but Arnette was doing what she always did when I had been around her before ... making sure everyone felt welcome and important. It appeared tougher for Julie, who just wanted more time with her dad. That isn't surprising for any daughter, but for the daughter of a football coach, it is quite commonplace. That evening in a packed church, there was a sto- ry-sharing session. By that time, many of Tiller's former players from Purdue and Wyoming and his former college teammates from Montana State had arrived. For nearly two hours, those in the packed pews at St. John the Bap- tist Church were treated to some great perspectives on the man they knew, respected and loved. The stories ran the gamut from poignant, to emotional, to funny. Julie shared what it was like to be a daughter of a foot- ball coach trying to share him with so many dozens of col- lege-age boys/men. We all learned from Julie that her dad loved roller coasters and cutting the grass in a specific pat- tern. But most of all with her tears flowing, we learned that Joe was a good father, and that was more important to his daughter than his legend as a football coach. Tiller's brothers took their turn at the lectern, recount- ing the growing-up days as "dead-end kids" in Toledo. The brothers labeled themselves in that manner because they lived on a street that reached a dead end, and not because they were kids that got into trouble. There appeared to be too much maternal influences from Tiller's mom and grandma for too much mischief. Dave Kenworthy, a Montana State teammate of Tiller's, talked about the informal fraternity of former players called the "Decrepit Bobcats." Kenworthy had known Tiller for 57 years and was with him just a couple of weeks before he passed. He summed up the relationship Tiller seemed to have with many of his long-time buddies. "'Joe, how in the hell did we get this far?'" said Kenwor- thy, sharing some of the last words he said to Tiller. In Buffalo, former players and family members gathered around Arnette during a day that paid proper tribute to Tiller's lasting legacy.