In 2004, my wife Susan and I, along with our friends, Eric and Sherry, vacationed in Washington, D.C. We all had different sites we wanted to see and took turns choosing between the various museums comprising the Smithsonian, Arlington and the memorials. But my wife had what I considered at the time to be a rather unusual tourist destination: the Fox News D.C. bureau. With such awe-inspiring sites as the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Dome available to us, she wanted to see Fox News and, she hoped, catch a glimpse of Brit Hume. I knew it would be interesting, but with so much history around us and so many other points of interest, I secretly believed we should be doing other things with our time.

I had no complaint, of course, as both she and Sherry were excited about it and, after all, we all four watch Fox News faithfully. We arrived at the bureau on time for our appointment (Susan had called ahead) but they seemed unsure of what to do with us. Apparently, they were not used to having visitors. But the lady that greeted us was courteous and asked us to wait while she found someone to give us a tour. After a few minutes an intern arrived and showed us around their offices. We saw where they film Special Report, we caught a glimpse of Major Garrett and Catherine Herridge at work, and finally were allowed to wait around in hopes of seeing their coverage of the president who was about to speak from the Rose Garden.

As we waited in the lobby, we talked about our trip so far, what we should do next, and how it looked like we were not going to get a chance to meet any of the Fox News anchors or correspondents. Then Susan or Sherry, or perhaps both, exclaimed in an excited whisper, “Here comes Tony Snow!”

Hearing this, he came over and greeted us. The first thing I noticed about him was how tall he was. Eric and I are both about six feet, three inches, so we do not meet many people that we have to look up to, and yet we had to look up to Snow. But what I remember most was his big smile; his big, genuine smile. Here was a man who served as speechwriter to the first President Bush and would soon serve as White House press secretary to the second. But at this particular point in his life he was a busy newsman. Successful, talented, and among the top names in his chosen profession, he nevertheless took about five minutes out of his day just to chat with us. He asked where we were from, what we did for a living, if we were enjoying our trip, and where we were headed next.

Here was a great American. Not the mere representation of one carved in stone out on the mall, not one of our fallen heroes who lay in eternal slumber in Arlington, but one in the flesh and, taking time out of his busy day, speaking with us. It was, despite my initial belief that we should have been doing something else, the highlight of our trip.

There are a lot of people who knew Tony Snow and knew him well. In the last few days after his passing they have spoken about their memories of him. They have spoken of his humor, of how he was a gentleman, of how he fought for his beliefs but never lost his good nature in that fight, of his enjoyment of music, and, most importantly, of his love for his family. Those that knew him well were very fortunate, and we four tourists counted ourselves lucky to have shared just five minutes of his time. And of his time, at just 53 years it was all too short.

I still don’t meet too many people that I have to look up to. But of Tony Snow, I can say that, even had he not been tall, he was still someone you would look up to.

Jeff O’Bryant is an amateur historian and holds two degrees, a bachelor’s in education and a bachelor’s with honors in history. He can be contacted at jeffobryant@catt.com or through his blog at rightnewsandviews.com.