Wait a ninute.......

Jeff died?

Regardless of what was stated on his obituary, none of his "closest" in Maryland were invited to any celebration of life in New Hampshire. We missed him and the celebration.

That's some sore news.

I still had occasional email traffic with him till my old original email got hacked and never recovered.

I always assumed he was still out there somewhere cooking, drinking good booze, roaring around in that car, and fly fishing in the streams of New Hampshire.

Last time we had a conversation of any length he had tracked down "the redhead" from much younger days and they'd rekindled their long lost romance. I hope she was as much fun as she sounded.

I still have that 1st year Magnum A5 with the 32 inch solid rib barrel and straight stock he gave me years ago. I'll have to get the "Cairo Special" out of the moth balls and take the ol' girl out duck shooting. I'll be in Virginia after Christmas, that might be just the place for it, or maybe a trip to his beloved Northern Michigan? One or the other, it will see some action soon.

RIP my good friend.

Destry, my shooting buddy and fellow gun club member, Joe Reid, visited with Jeff and went on Canadian fishing expeditions with him after he moved to New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Joe and I only shared interest in clay target shooting, not fishing, so I never accompanied him on his visits with Jeff. Forty years with Marriott would have easily made even a dishwasher a multimillionaire if he had taken even the least of advantage of employee stock options. Jeff and I discussed our Marriott "advantages" over the years, but he never admitted how much stock he held. What a guy.