Dear Alex Trebek,
This wasn't originally suppose to be a letter to you,... but I guess now it is. Maybe now that you are one with the Spirit World, you might actually get to read it... here it goes:
I want to thank you. Like SO many people my age, I grew up watching you on TV with my grandmother amazed at how well you could pronounce those foreign words. Between 7:30pm and 8pm, I was locked to my screen watching some of the smartest people in the world compete. As a 'smart kid', it was a thrill to compete alongside them. It was even more fun to answer questions that the contestants didn't know. You and "Jeopardy!" made being smart cool, despite the ridicule one like me could get from our peers.
As I was explaining my daughter why Daddy was suddenly sad, I realized how beautiful a place the Jeopardy! stage really was. It was a place of peace and acceptance. Nothing else mattered on that stage but your intelligence. You could be a College Professor or a local baker. A Tech Expert or a School teacher. Man or Woman. Gay or Straight. Christian, Jewish, or Agnostic. Nothing mattered. Any ethic background. Any country of origin. Nothing but your mind mattered.
All I can say is thank you. Thank you for being a vital part of my childhood. Thank you for making being smart cool. Thank you for your time given to US while you battled cancer. You didn't have to. You could have completely stepped away and we would have understood. Thank you for being a hero to a young Black kid in Kentucky. Thank you for being Alex Trebek.
You changed lives. You changed mine.
Thank you. I love you.
- Dwan