> Walt passed away peacefully this morning.
>
> Good bye, old friend.
>
>
> Bill Barber
>
Funny, and I know it is another cliche, but words truly do always seem to
fail me at a time like this. But I need to say something, as I do fee we
have lost a good friend today. I wasn't expecting this at all today, and
this news really brings a sense of sadness to me. I don't suppose that you
could get much further apart in religious belief than Walt and I were, yet
for some reason I always had a great respect and admiration for him. I guess
he and I did have in common a love for guns and shooting (as well as for
Olympus cameras of course), and we both probably enjoyed the controversy of
the discussions OT things like guns and SUV's.
Any time that Walt was gone from the list for any length of time, I always
missed his wit and short replies that made you think, and usually laugh. He
certainly had a way with words, so that I seldom skipped one of his posts.
I can't help but think of the times he discussed with the list buying the
SSR, whether or not he should spend the money. And then he'd talk about the
fact that you can't take the money with you. Or the times he talked about
his favourite lenses like the 100/2 or 50/2 macro, and how he'd not part
with them except "from his cold dead hands". I remember him saying that his
family would have to dispose of all his camera gear when he was gone, that
he had no intention of relieving them of the task by selling any beforehand.
I bet he still has all his OM4's and 4t's. He often talked of the things he
was buying, whether a fast vehicle, a MF camera system, another Glock. Do
you remember that for awhile he was one of the most vocal against turning to
digital? He usually bought the best of everything. Unlike some of us, he
never really bought much from ebay, preferring to buy new from B&H, or at
the least, from KEH. He talked of the huge files his scanner would produce
from the larger negatives. Somehow, as always with Walt, we all knew that
his hard outer shell would give way, and it did. He embraced the Olympus
DSLR systems and lenses with enthusiasm, and in short time was joining in
with the typical tease lines like, "film, what is that?". I think enthusiasm
for life was one of his finer qualities.
Walt is surely going to missed on this list. Sad for all of us to see him
gone.
Wayne
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