Just logged in to let everyone know that our friend Anole has passed away on November 21stc 2014.
Anole and I have been friends since I first joined this forum in 2006. He helped me to solder a capacitor on the PCB of a Pansat 3500 I had, and we ended up in a phone conversation during the process.
From that conversation, we had regular phone calls every Saturday that lasted at least an hour each time. We talked about everything under the sun. He was a very intelligent person, and could talk on almost any subject. From those conversations, grew a great friendship. It wasn't until last year that we managed to get Facetime working and had video calls a few times.
About 6 - 8 months ago the calls grew farther apart. I asked what was wrong, and he said he had gone to the VA and gotten a Doctor assigned to him and that they had fixed him all up and he was getting better.
I didn't know at the time, and Stogie didn't either until about 3 months ago he finally told us that he had prostate cancer. It wasn't caught until late, and he knew he was dying.
I hadn't heard from him for about 3 weeks by mid November, so I called the VA hospital in Long Beach. It took me 20 minutes to get past the red tape to actually talk to Rich, but we did have a short conversation. He was in a lot of pain, and they had him pretty drugged up.
I hadn't heard from him after that until this week, I told Stogie that I would try and get through at the VA hospital again. I finally did get through this evening, and that's when they told me he had passed away on November 21st. Apparently, I was the last person outside the hospital to talk to him while he was still alive.
He had no family. Had never been married, both parents had passed away several years ago. He did have a group of friends that he ate lunch with on a regular basis, but he told me that none of them had ever been to his home.
Stogie, Phlatwound, Lak7 and I were his family along with the members of this forum that he loved so much. He will be greatly missed!!!
May he rest in Peace!!!
Anole and I have been friends since I first joined this forum in 2006. He helped me to solder a capacitor on the PCB of a Pansat 3500 I had, and we ended up in a phone conversation during the process.
From that conversation, we had regular phone calls every Saturday that lasted at least an hour each time. We talked about everything under the sun. He was a very intelligent person, and could talk on almost any subject. From those conversations, grew a great friendship. It wasn't until last year that we managed to get Facetime working and had video calls a few times.
About 6 - 8 months ago the calls grew farther apart. I asked what was wrong, and he said he had gone to the VA and gotten a Doctor assigned to him and that they had fixed him all up and he was getting better.
I didn't know at the time, and Stogie didn't either until about 3 months ago he finally told us that he had prostate cancer. It wasn't caught until late, and he knew he was dying.
I hadn't heard from him for about 3 weeks by mid November, so I called the VA hospital in Long Beach. It took me 20 minutes to get past the red tape to actually talk to Rich, but we did have a short conversation. He was in a lot of pain, and they had him pretty drugged up.
I hadn't heard from him after that until this week, I told Stogie that I would try and get through at the VA hospital again. I finally did get through this evening, and that's when they told me he had passed away on November 21st. Apparently, I was the last person outside the hospital to talk to him while he was still alive.
He had no family. Had never been married, both parents had passed away several years ago. He did have a group of friends that he ate lunch with on a regular basis, but he told me that none of them had ever been to his home.
Stogie, Phlatwound, Lak7 and I were his family along with the members of this forum that he loved so much. He will be greatly missed!!!
May he rest in Peace!!!
