LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Bill Smith Jr. couldn’t bring himself to try on his father’s graduation cap and gown until just before the University of Wyoming commencement, three days after his father unexpectedly died.

He checked his reflection and straightened the cap, which was slightly loose. He wondered how it would have fit his father, who never could find large-enough hats. He pictured the mortarboard over his father’s unruly head of gray hair.