Jeane was a wife, mother, scholar, diplomat and professor who could walk with presidents and royalty but never lose her humility, her humanness and especially her sense of humor.

For the last 25 years she'd come to our home in Bethesda, Md., for dinners or barbecues after church on Sunday and talk with my children about their schoolwork, their questions about foreign policy or just their sports and social activities.

She and I were part of the early "neoconservative" cause led by Irving Kristol, Michael Novak and the late Robert Bartley, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page editor.

Both Jeane and I questioned the "rush to war," but to make that concession does not mean we accept the premise of the Left - that we can walk away without leaving a state of anarchy that would only be filled by Iran and al-Qaida. She was a profound thinker, speaker and scholar whose place in history is reflected in her many awards, accolades and tributes from both sides of the political aisle and from all over the world.

Andre Sakharov, the great Russian physicist, called her "Mrs. Kirkpatski" and told her every Soviet dissident and refusenik knew her name in every cell of the Gulag.

Joking with her before she passed away I told her I'd campaigned for Joe Lieberman in Connecticut during the last week of his race for Senate. Then I told her, "and guess what Jeane, Lieberman won anyway." She laughed and then said "Scoop" Jackson, (one of my heroes) would have been proud of me.

The world is a better place and America is a better nation because of Jeane Kirkpatrick and all of us old and young, Democrat and Republican, conservative and liberal are in her debt as we mourn her passing but celebrate her life, her legacy and her many achievements in service to our country and the free world.