Hi guys,

I just spent two wonderful weeks in the hospital learnig that i have a fast growing cancer which is eating at my ribs, spine, etc, at a super high rate of speed so, to make a long story kindasorta short, this will be my last post here, or anyplace else, forever. I have had a ball here, and an gonna miss you all, a lot. Have a great life!

I'm stunned.

You've been a real pillar of the contributors here. Thank you for all you've added over the years.

Prayers going out to you and your family.

Dave

OBG,
Thanks for the lessons and the stories. While I've been loitering around this forum for probably only 300 of your 5700+ posts, I've enjoyed them and learned from them and hope that you will be back.

Very sorry the hear such news.

Prayers to you and your family.

OBG,
Sorry to hear this

Godspeed

Charlie

I don't know what to give as a comment except that it sucks.

G'bye, it was good visiting.

I'm a cancer survivor. See my PM.

Tom Faranda

We will keep you and your family in our prayers.

Dagnabit! We'll miss ya'. Godspeed.

Jeff

I have just prayed that you will confound your doctors and be given comfort as you deal with this diagnosis.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones,

Dagny

OBG,

As I recall, you've been a traveler since I first read this site. View this new path as just another journey, and face it with an open mind, and continue to face new things with the heart of a warrior ... or maybe the heart of a child.

I hope the journies that await you come with as little pain and as much happiness as possible. You are in my prayers.

Ken

We will miss ya around the campfire... Good luck man.

Kris

OBG, You may never read this but know that you will be missed greatly.

OBG, PEACE be with you and your family. My thoughts and prayers go with you. Though we have never met, I felt I knew you from your posts. Why do the good guys always wind up this way. Cancer sucks. I've seen too many great guys fall victim to it. Somebody once said something to the effect of " Live every day like it's your last, 'cause it might be". I guess this is another painful example.

Sorry for your troubles.

Best to you and yours and God Bless.

Wow...that's awful news. Godspeed OBG

Wow that is awful news, we will pray for you and hope for the best. We have enjoyed your posts over the years and remember to never give up as the navy seals say the only easy day was yesterday. There have been many cancer survivors and that doesn't mean that there is no hope for you, only a challenge. Good luck and god speed.

That's horrible. I feel like you're one of the "father figures" here. It'll be a lesser forum with your absence. Good luck.. the only good news I can offer is that, often, fast cancers respond better to treatment...

Keep the faith and good luck with your treatments.

OBG,
My thoughts and prayers are there for you and your family. I wish you the best!
I'll tip a glass of bourbon in your honor sir! You will be missed. May your next journey be peaceful and pleasant.
Spend your remaining time with friends and family.
Goodbye my Friend.
Stu

Devastating news. I will miss you. You are an inspiration to us all, and your legacy will remain here for as long as those of us who know you have a say.

Vaya con Dios amigo. Please let us know if there's anything we can do for your Mrs. or the rest of your family.

On the bright side, at least now maybe I have a chance of catching up to you on post count...

A toast to OBG, for all his stories and advice. He's set a great example for the rest of us.

Cheers

I can drink to that -- to OldBaldGuy. . .

Hooo boy...

What Benjammin said, but in triplicate. Except you don't care much for paperwork, so forget the carbon copies.

You've lived more than most and remain an inspiration to all of us.

Thank you for all you've given. I'll (we're) keeping our fingers crossed for you and you loved ones.

OBG,

Thanks for all your great stories and sage advice. God bless and godspeed and may you get to heaven 5 minutes before the Devil knows you're gone.

Andy

Good luck and Godspeed. We'll see you there someday...

Best wishes and prayers, OBG. Go with God.

OBG, my thoughts and prayers. ETS won't be the same without you man.

OBG, you're one of the reasons a lot of us have joined and are participating in this crazy forum. No one will be able to take your place. Although most of us don't know you personally, we love ya. I wish you peace.

OBG,


I have enjoyed the time and conversations.

The thoughts of DW, DD, Sons#1&2 and I are with you and yours.

Enjoy the time with your family, in the end they are all we have...

Peace be upon you and yours, and unto you Peace.

Craig

It is HIS kingdom, we are just leasing space while we can...

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.

OBG, will miss you. This place will not be the same without you.

May you have fair winds and a calm sea for the rest of the trip, Your like are few and far between, We will miss you.

OBG,
You have been a cornerstone of this forum, we will all miss your insight and expertise. Hold your family close and you will be in our thoughts.

Mike

you will be missed........

OBGs account will remain active on ETS, forever part of this cyber world with it's own ,sometimes unfathomable suprises in parallel with our own universe. :O(

OBG,

I am not often at a loss for words, but...

I am deeply saddened by our loss, hard to type through the tears.

Thank you for all your wonderful contributions here and your service. You leave this world a better place, and I suppose that's the best compliment I can give to anyone. Your good deeds will be rememebered.

You and your family will be in our prayers.

Oh Damn!!!

Computer's been out of commission for several weeks and come back to this news.

Feel like I've been kicked in the stomach.

OBG if you are able to read this, I am so very sorry and am very grateful for all you have shared and taught here.

My thoughts are with you and your family.

My thoughts are also with the members of ETS forum. I know y'all are as heart-sick as I am...

I'm at a loss for words. OBG, thanks for all the gabbin'. We all hope you'll prove your doctors wrong! Our thoughts are with you and your family.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight". ---Kahlil Gibran in 'The Prophet' (1923)

Has anyone got any updates???

I haven't visited this site often and noticed this thread this morning. If this has been posted elsewhere, I apologize.

Don passed away Thursday night, March 5, 2009.

It looks like he was very active here, and from the threads here, it looks like many knew him and regarded him as a friend.
He had an active life which he enjoyed, mostly with the company of friends and loved ones. When he found it was bone cancer causing the pain and not an old injury acting up, it was quite a shock. He decided to stay out of the hospital and with his wife, with the assistance of hospice nursing. He had been visited by friends and surrounded by family in the weeks and days preceeding his death. It was terribly painful and mercifully swift.
He will be missed by those who knew him.

Indeed, he has been missed here, and that will always be the case. I can't express how saddened I am to get this news.

RIP, OBG.

Thanks Basecamp. I miss OBG too.
His last post seemed pretty clear to me about what was going to happen.
It is a good thing to know he had his family around him at his passing.

Thank you for letting us know he left surrounded by those who loved him, not by sterility and strangers.

We figured as much, but had not heard the "offical" word. Please send my condolences to his family

God bless him, his family and his friends.

Thank you for the information.

BTW - NOT speaking in my offical capacity, I think you can send the condolences of the whole board and the staff

Thank you for updating us. He will be missed, and I`m glad it went rather 'quick' at the end w/least amount of suffering and surrounded by family and friends.

Thanks for the update. glad he spent it at home, surrounded by those he cared about. It needs to be done more often.

Vaya con Dios amigo.

A man of wisdom, experience, humor, and class.

Seems many in this world could strive to emulate OBG, fall short, and still the world would be a better place...


Rest In Peace Trooper.

*sigh* Just read this thread and realized the news. God bless you on your new journey OBG, and many prayers to you, your loved ones, and close friends. You will be missed...

Thanks for sharing that Basecamp.
Don is missed, and will not be forgotten.
RIP Don! May the good Lord watch over you!

Thank you Basecamp. Knowing he has passed is much better than fearing he's alive and suffering.

-Blast, in tears.

I echo Blast's sentiment. Thank you so much.

With heavy heart for our loss;
With Joy for his final release
With fondness in reflection

Thank you basecamp for the information, May his new campsite be comfortable and cool. He sure is missed around here.

He will be missed. Thank you so much OBG.

73's
Lee
KC3L

Don's good works and kind words will hopefully reside here forever as a reminder for those of us he helped and an introduction for those who did not to someone who had good heart and lived as an example to others.

Prayers for you and your family OBG.

Craig.

I am sure like many here I pretty much knew his fate. However, reading the confirmation of that belief has left a real hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. OBG will continued to be missed by those on this forum, who enjoyed his wisdom and hearing about his life’s experiences. If there is any comfort in his death, it is the knowledge that those cared for him were with him during this challenging time in his life.

For me, death is the opening of a new door with new and exciting experiences. I believe OBG is now on a new journey. Enjoy!

Pete

Think it was Chris Kavanagh who said a forum felt like the wrong place to say this at the time we first heard, so I sent this privately to OBG. Now I'm posting it as part of the richly deserved praise he's getting.

"Thought I'd leave it to Doug to have the last word on the forum. So I'm sending a private message.
Fare thee well.
I've enjoyed our sparring and though we've disagreed at times, it was over interpretation of the actual facts. Not the 'invention, backed up with insults' many think is a good way to reach the truth. I rarely join in the forum now, since the standard of debate is so poor.
It never was with you. I like to think we learned to respect eath other. I certainly came to respect you. And learnt very quickly to check my facts in a thread you were part of.

Robert E Lees words on the loss of his cavalry commander J.E.B Stuart (responsible for recconnaisence) is the finest epitaph a debator could have.

"He never brought me a piece of false information".

You've earned it.

The Sock"

Godspeed OBG!

Condolences to OBG's family. Can't wait to talk with him again some day...

Amen, he will be missed. He's in a much better place now.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

(Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1930)

To Our Good Friend OBG

Heres a toast

OBG, although we never met we're sure gonna miss ya
pull up a stump the sky's gonna kiss ya
throw a log on the fire, of this we'll never tire
sit a spell and tell a tale,I bet it's a whopper of a whale

So Long Old Bald Guy

Mike
kd7fqd

"For what is it to die but to stand naked
in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to
free the breath from its restless tides, that
it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

(Kahlil Gibran - "The Prophet")

If I remember correctly OBG was a vet - If so, he's up at Fiddler's Green

Does anyone know if there was a printed obituary anywhere? I looked, but couldn't find one.

Basecamp, we appreciate the notice of OBG's passing.

He was among friends hear on this forum and we do miss him.

Mike

RIP OBG, Godspeed.

Sadly missed, fondly remembered. RIP OBG.

OBG was one of those guys who you may have disagreed with but always took advice from. I wish the internet was filled with more folk like him. He will be sorely missed here, and no doubt desperately missed by those that really knew him.

RIP old man, see you in a few years.

No doubt telling us the best way to be equipped to survive in the netherworld.Enjoy the ambrosia while its free.

Just got around to reading the updates...RIP OBG. Never met him, but you could tell he was a hell of a guy.

His farewell post was emblematic of the very little we were privileged to see of the man here, straight up, addressing the problem squarely, short and to the point, without undue sentimentality. Godspeed, OBG.

It has been a long year. . .

Reading OBG's last post still gets to me.
He is indeed missed.
RIP OBG.

Indeed, our best gift to him and his family is to remember him here from time to time.

Thanks for bumping this one Des.

Being new here, I did not know the guy. But at least he had the chance to say goodbye before he left.

A lot of times people just vanish from these kind of sites after years and many posts, and you wonder what happened to them. I had that happen recently on another forum. A guy I regularly chatted with in PMs and emails just stopped posting and no longer responds to PMs or emails. For all I know he is lying dead in the woods somewhere, or is in jail. Just don't know.

When I first read OBG’s post it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I have reread his post many times and each and every time, I am left with that same feeling. I really do miss him.

Pete

I echo Martin....loss for words.

I never met him or his family. My prayers go to them.

Goodbye friend.

Pete, the very same thing happens to me. My stomach does flip flops.

At the time I'd been on this forum long enough to have a tremendous respect for OBG - as I do so many others here, but I think there was also the shock factor. The concept of how quick he went after finding out what was hurting him. That is hard for me to wrap my mind around. I think that's what saddens me the most.

Having passed the half century mark, I hope that the good Lord blesses me with seeing my children grow into adulthood, and allows me to enjoy some retirement time in the northern woods of Wisconsin with my wonderful wife - who has tolerated my gear addiction and other flaws for so long.

BTW, this thread also makes me think about Chris K. - I sure hope he's doing OK. I miss his unusual wit and humor.

Ken

Two years gone.
While the feelings of loss ebb like the tide, occasions do occur to remind, and the memories remain to flow forth with a gentle smile.
To be understood only by those who know.

The players may be different, but the song remains the same. . . . .

A prayer and a toast for OBG.

Gone, but not forgotten.

May he rest in a place that is better than this one.

Goodby Friend!

Jerry

Rest in peace Friend.

Lee

I was just thinking of OBG a couple of days ago. My subconscious must have been kicking me.

I hope he took his EDC with him... you just never know.

Sue

I had the same thought, Sue.

Yeah you know, I was thinking of him on a run the other day. Just popped in. Ya never know.

Two years already. I can remember reading his post as if it was only yesterday. Some people you just don't forget.

Makes you think if a person on the other side of the globe can make such an impression on a forum. I do miss his posts, and my thoughts go out to his relatives and friends.