Some of you may remember Don as a regular at the Cheyenne Wells and Ft. Morgan MG shoots. Two and a half weeks ago Don was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 liver cancer. He passed from this earth while sleeping this morning. He was 61 yrs young.
I had the privilege of knowing Don for ten years. His wit and positive outlook didn't change after he got the bad news. As typical with Don, he focused on the positive "How many people get the luxury of putting their affairs in order and get to say goodbye to their friends?", he asked me.
Some of you in the construction trades may be familiar with the Tempest Company out of Omaha (www.tempestcompany.com). Don used to joke that he founded the company because he discovered he was a "hard core unemployable" so he had to do something about it. Don was going to retire at the end of June by moving to Rapid City and opening up a branch office. To him, that was retirement. He had a piece of land and was just getting ready to break ground when the news came.
Just one of the many memories of Don I'll cherish involves a mutual friend of ours named Duane. Duane is a big time Thompson collector. After he missed a couple of MG shoots with less than acceptable excuses, Don decided to mess with him by making up a good story to drive him nuts. The scheming began. First it needs to involve a gun that Duane would get wood for. He settled on a pristine, papered '21 overstamp in a FBI case. Second, the price had to be a raging bargain. So it became available in an estate sale of a retired FBI agent out of Chicago. The widow said to make an offer because she didn't know what it was worth. Third, there needed to be a reason why every SOT and collector in the world wasn't bidding the price up. So the story line became that Don got a lead on the gun from a spectator he rented a M1A1 to at the shoot. Learning about this deal of a lifetime at a shoot that Duane missed would be poetic.
Don had a friend who was in on the gag "slip" in front of Duane about the Thompson and then act like he was surprised Don hadn't told Duane. The bait is now in the water and the hook was quickly set. Don mentioned that the widow had tentatively accepted his offer for $19.5K (weird numbers are more believable). At this point, Don had Duane on the line and played him like a big bass on a 3lb test. Duane wanted to be sure Don didn't screw up the deal by being a cheap-ass. "Don't you screw a widow on that gun Don or you deserve to lose it!" We were all in on it of course and would talk about it in hushed tones in front of Duane. He was after Don for a year to close on the deal or give it to him before he finally realized that he had been had. We had a lot of fun with that running gag.
In our last conversation, Don relayed to me what happened when he called up Duane to tell him about his terminal diagnosis. Went something like this:
Don: "Well they went in with a scope today and the news is I have liver cancer and it's bad."
Duane: (silence).
Don: "I have about a month."
Duane: "Bullshit. I'm not falling for it this time."
Don: (laughing) "No, you dumb ass. I really have cancer."
Duane: "Fool me once, buddy."
Don: "Seriously. Call Tom or Steve if you don't believe me."
Duane: "They were in on that Thompson BS."
Don: "Call my wife then."
Duane: "Seriously?"
Don: "Yes, I'm afraid so."
This conversation was something Don found immensely funny and shared with all of his friends. So I wanted to share it with you guys too so you'd know the type of guy he was. He lived well, went well and found humor in some of the darkest moments of his life. I will miss him.
Here's Don with his pride and joy, a genuine 1918A2 BAR. I hear the ammo is free in heaven, buddy. Godspeed.
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