Max,

Thanks.  When I saw it, I figured immediately that it was an index
value. I just couldn't figure out how you came upon using it.  I have
been using this new gained knowlegde to play around with some code for
rearranging a list of names:

Sub Test()
Dim oPara As Word.Paragraph
Dim oRng As Word.Range
Dim pRef0 As String
Dim pRef1 As String
Dim pRef2 As String
Dim pRef3 As String
Dim pRef4 As String
Dim i As Long

For Each oPara In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
 Set oRng = oPara.Range
 oRng.MoveEnd wdCharacter, -1
 i = UBound(Split(oRng)) + 1
 Select Case i
   Case Is > 1
     pRef1 = Split(oRng)(0)
     pRef2 = Split(oRng)(1)
     Select Case i
       Case Is < 3
         oRng.Text = pRef2 & ", " & pRef1
       Case Is < 4
         pRef3 = Split(oRng)(2)
         If InStr("SR.Sr.JR.Jr.IIIVIII", pRef3) > 0 Then
           oRng.Text = pRef2 & ", " & pRef1 & ", " & pRef3
         Else
           oRng.Text = pRef3 & ", " & pRef1 & " " & pRef2
         End If
       Case Is = 4
         pRef3 = Split(oRng)(2)
         pRef4 = Split(oRng)(3)
         If InStr("SR.Sr.JR.Jr.IIIVIII", pRef4) > 0 Then
           oRng.Text = pRef3 & ", " & pRef1 & " " & pRef2 _
           & ", " & pRef4
         Else
            oRng.Text = pRef4 & ", " & pRef1 & " " & pRef2 _
           & " " & pRef3
         End If
       Case Else
         MsgBox oRng & " contains too many elements" _
         & " for this procedure to rearrange."
     End Select
   Case Else
 End Select
Next
End Sub

I should change the variable names, but it seems to work pretty good
for rearranging names into from First Name, MI, Last Name, Suffix to
Last Name, First Name MI, Suffix

Mid$() is buggy in the code I provided because the start and end points were
assumed. (I was just using a shortcut for the sake of example.

Using Instr() establishes the starting point reliably. As Max points out the
13 is also dubious -- the hidden bookmarks I've seen always seem to be that
length, but since the number is obviously random, I wouldn't rely on it.
Better would be to do a second Instr() to find the first space that follows
the _Ref.

But Split() is a simpler approach.