In this essay, the author comments on the life and the contributions of author Gary Nash. Everyone is thanking him for his remarkable engagement with the schools, as a writer of outstanding textbooks and materials for teachers developed through his work as director of the Center for Teaching History in the Schools, and, of course, the National History Standards, to say nothing of innumerable ad hoc instances of collaborations, assistance, and advocacy. What Gary has done, as the author sees it, is to recover a pattern of civic participation by historians that marked the profession a century ago, when leading scholars were also leaders in history education in the schools. He has recombined great distinction as a scholar with regular contributions to public education. What he has done furthermore has large implications for the definition of the profession. Gary's career exemplifies an all-embracing "we-ness" of all historians that is essential if they are to have historical literacy in this country. (Contains 17 notes.)