Amen to that Andrew. You have said what I would have liked to have said.
I will also take a drink to Walt tonight....
Roger Key
>From: Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] Re: Walt Wayman makes his transition 07/15/07
>Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:13:37 +1000
>
>
>This was a morning when I rather wish I hadn't bothered to check my
>email before heading off to work. First day of term and my heart
>wasn't really in it to say the least.
>
>Walt was one of the reasons I hung around this list long after I
>drifted away from OM useage. I can hardly recall a single thing we
>ever agreed on except temperament, the considered opinion that it's
>mostly nonsense and you don't actually have to put up with any of it.
>Oh and the heroes we shared such as Tom Waits and Kinky Freidman.
>I often harbored a quiet fantasy that it would be good to meet up
>with him sometime, share a drink and rail against the degeneration of
>the world in general and many of its inhabitants in particular. That
>is now impossible and a matter of deep regret, even though it was
>probably utterly unrealistic. We'd probably have fallen out over some
>trifle anyway and it's hard to forget that he was always very well
>armed. Still, it was good to know that he was out there somewhere,
>irritating the hell out of some poor fool. So instead I made a small
>resolution today to renew contact with a few people before they
>become lost to me as well. And another to further develop the
>curmudgeon in me - one has been lost and the balance must be restored
>and maintained.
>He seems to have lived a remarkable life, experienced much, loved and
>been loved. There isn't much else that you can really desire. He goes
>to his oblivion too early of course, but well exercised. I suspected
>that all was not well, even before the awful loss of his partner -
>the car, the Leica - he seemed to be doing some serious living as if
>he knew time was short. Very sensible - as Epicurus said, it is
>pointless to fear death for when we live, it has not come and when it
>has come, we do not suffer from it.
>One of my last personal contacts with him was when he bought a couple
>of small but rare items from KEH for me and then made a gift of them
>to me as a simple and unexpected act of kindness. For those in Oz,
>the latest issue of Digital Photography' contains an extended quote
>from him on the subject of avoiding wedding photography, a statement
>so pithy, sharp and perfect that it needed to be used and stimulated
>the article. Amusingly, my editor assumed that I had invented him. I
>wish I could have done.
>I suppose that some of you will be tempted to pray for him again but
>I rather wish you wouldn't, not that you'll take any notice. Given
>his personal position, it would seem rather presumptuous but then I
>share his lack of faith. Better to accept the inevitable, remember
>him fondly and take a drink in his memory from time to time.
>Strangely I had to discuss Plato's Phaedo with a class this morning,
>a passage in which he discusses the immortality of the soul and the
>nature of the afterlife ? and which may be partly the origin of the
>Christian conception of heaven and hell; the more modern view that
>is. I found that difficult as you may imagine but wishful thinking
>did not make it seem any more convincing to me nor would it have done
>to him I suspect.
>I'll be dedicating a little Jamieson's to him this evening.
>That's a more appropriate memorial.
>Andrew Fildes
>afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
>On 16/07/2007, at 4:56 AM, NSURIT@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
> >
> > Walt passed away peacefully this morning. Since leaving the
> > hospital and
> > going to hospice, all the tubes and other intrusions had been
> > removed from his
> > body and he was no longer restrained to prevent their removal. He
> > was able
> > to eat some real food a day or two ago. I am assuming most would
> > consider
> > scrabbled eggs and grits to be real food . . . it certainly is to
> > a good
> > southern boy. It was in this environment that Walt had some of
> > your words read to
> > him and had the opportunity to speak fondly of his many friends on
> > the OM
> > mailing list. His friends and family asked me to convey to the
> > list what an
> > important part each of you have been to Walt these past few years
> > and the past
> > few weeks. We were the people he chose to hang out with . . . we
> > were his
> > friends.
> >
> > In keeping with his wishes, no funeral is planned. In the event of a
> > memorial service the list will be notified, however I suspect that
> > is also
> > something he would just as soon pass on.
> >
> > Good bye, old friend.
> >
> >
> > Bill Barber
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|