How do you describe one of the real "good guys." For those of us 'kids' growing up in Tokyo there was one very special person.

In the days before CNN, Foxnews, the Internet we got our news from FEN -- the Far East Network -- and The Tokyo Weekender.

It was a time when the only hamburger you could get in Tokyo was at Olympia in Harajuku, there was Grant Heights, Kanto Mura, Washington Heights, Tachikawa, Green Park, Johnson, and countless other American military bases in Tokyo.

You didn't fly but took one of the American President Lines Ships or any plane that stopped on its way somewhere else.

Corky Alexander, a Texan who arrived here in the 1950s, was for us our 'uncle' and 'grandpa,' replacing those we didn't have growing up in Japan.

When my missionary parents were unable to pay my college fees, it was Corky who stepped in and put the notice in the Tokyo Weekender that got me the part-time job that helped me pay my way through College.

When I finished school and returned to Japan, it was Corky again who asked "how can I help?"

Beginning the Japan Helpline, it was Corky who was always there with a word of encouragement, a notice in the paper and connections for everything in between.

Once I got a call from Corky: "I'm doing a series on success stories in Japan and I want to include you guys," he said. I laughed: "Corky, we're no success story -- we just about got our lines cut off for not being able to pay our phone bills."

He replied: "there are different kinds of success," and a couple weeks later out came the article.

When one of his "gang" did something, that was a "success."

To Corky, I say "thank you" for always being there, for believing in everyone, and for making such a difference.

They say in heaven there are three things that will surprise us; those who you were sure wouldn't be there and are there, those who you were sure wouldn't make it and are, and the surprise that you are there yourself.

I am sure Corky, who spent his younger years, by his own admission, "painting the town red" all night, is smiling looking down at us, absolutely surprised that he made it.

For those of us for whom Corky was "uncle," "grandpa," and everything else in between, and on behalf of all his many "Tokyo Kids," a big "otsukaresama," which in Japanese means "good job, now take your rest."

The many things Corky did, his work on the Stars and Stripes, Asahi Evening News, membership in The Foreign Correspondents' Club and Tokyo American Club, and his pioneering of the Tokyo Weekender are what will go in the many tributes to him, but for those of us, his "kids," he was so much more.

In safe hands with Jim Merk, Corky's son-in-law, Tokyo Weekender will continue. We are putting together a tribute to Corky. If you have a story, a memory of Corky, please send it on.

Otsukaresama, Corky! We'll miss you.