My father stood at the foot of his lifelong friend and fellow veterans coffin, waiting silently for him to be lowered into a final place of rest, within view of my parent's headstone, straightening his 78 year old spine as best he could and saluting for 45 minutes before Butch, my dad's best friend since middle school in Shawano, was lowered into the semi-frozen earth.
Butch graduated from Shawano High School three years before my dad; they were on the school's baseball team with another student who was actively recruited by the Cincinnati Reds, but graduated from UW-Whitewater and joined Price Waterhouse in Milwaukee with my dad instead.
Dad has a solid group of "guy friends" from Shawano, together they deer hunted, goose hunted, and flew into remote Canada for a week of fishing each summer.
I too have strong friendships from junior high and high school. I have attended services for few of their parents (which is a blessing), yet I wonder who will attend when it's my mother or father services are held for.