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Old 05-26-2018, 08:57 PM   #1
geo
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1,000
Festus2, farewell my dear friend

It is with a heavy heart that I find I must post this on the Forum. A dear friend of mine, who was also one of the long time moderators of this Forum, passed away a few days ago. I well remember the day some five years ago that Festus2 informed me he had been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. That horrible condition took a dear friend and excellent moderator from us. If after you read this post, if you feel like I do, may I encourage you to make a donation to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/.

Please allow me a paragraph or two to honor Festus2. As you can see on his Forum bio, Festus2 was Canadian and lived in British Columbia. He was a retired elementary school principal. One interesting point of his life - as Canada is part of the Commonwealth - Festus2 and his wife (also an educator) traded positions and homes with a pair of Australian educators for five years. Festus2 also enjoyed a glass of wine. My wife and I spent a wonderful week with Festus2 and his wife in the Okanogan Valley of British Columbia, wandering around only a few of the some 900 wineries and tasting rooms plus taking a ride on the Kettle Valley Steam Railway. Festus2 never heard of some Southern edibles such as hominy and blackeyed peas. We were able to introduce Festus2 to the elegant taste of blackeyed peas, but never got the chance to introduce him to yellow hominy. I always wondered what he would have thought of grits.

Festus2 loved curling. I used to kid him about the time his senior team beat Bernie Sparks' team at the local curling rink. Sparks was a Canadian Olympic Curling Team leader some years ago. I was always proud that Festus2 was the skip when his team beat Bernie!

Festus2 was the person who you would meet and within five minutes, it was like you had known him all your life. He was kind, insightful, and had a very dry sense of humor. He loved to curl, fish, camp, and share stories (over wine, of course). If we could all just follow the example that Festus2 set for us, the World would be a better place.

Thank all of you for granting me this chance to pay a tribute, as insignificant as it is, to a dear departed friend.

Regards,
Ron

P.S. - May I request a moderator to put a sticky on this post to keep it at the top for at least a time period?
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