Friday, February 9, 2018
I met Rich sometime in the early 2000s, when he wrote via one of my websites. I was delighted to learn that he lived within a few short miles from me, and we arranged to meet to discuss a couple of topics of common interest, notably vintage TV and drive-in theaters.
We shared an upbringing in the Detroit area and were fans of several locally-produced television shows. Rich had very fond memories of three, in particular: Hercules Theater, featuring a host named David the Colossus; Morgus Presents, which was, for a short time, relocated to Detroit from its native New Orleans; and longtime madman of Saturday night, The Ghoul. Rich and I worked to locate and restore some audio recordings of these two programs, which kept a couple of young-at-heart retirees out of trouble! With his background in science, he worked the 'scientific method' to perfection, meticulously documenting the steps he took in trying to retrieve the cleanest-possible audio from his old reel-to-reel tapes. Rich also worked tirelessly trying transferring and editing clips of the Ghoul from his VHS videotape collection and saving them on CD/DVD.
We also shared a passion for computers and the internet -- this, after all, is what brought us together! We each had differing areas of expertise in software and hardware utilization, and that made it a lot of fun to visit and talk with him. I always looked forward to see what treasures, new and old, could be found in his basement, which seemed very much like an extension of my own! We'd occasionally make a weekend trip to the Gibraltar Trade Center to restock our treasure troves with goodies available at their computer shows. Ah, computer junk -- food of the gods!
We were never what would be considered close friends, but we were 'fast friends' -- birds of a feather; very much alike. I regret that I wasn't able to visit with him more often, particularly since around 2011 or so, when my occasional 'how ya doing?' email would go unanswered. I've checked on his Facebook page, and see that he didn't use it much, or recently. But that's not necessarily and indication of anything -- I don't much care for Facebook either, and don't have much to offer on my page for the same reason.
So rest well, Rich, my friend. To those who knew him as family, my sincere condolences. Keep his memory alive with you, in your hearts and minds. He was a pretty good guy!
