Lost a friend today

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contender

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
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Lake Lure NC USA
For many years,, I've had a good friend,, who collected old Colts, Winchesters & Rugers. He owned a "Pawn & Jewelry" store in Asheville. And he has a son who has one in a neighboring town.

He passed away at home today, with family around him.

I could share all kinds of wonderful stories about my friend, George Lane, and in the past I have shared stuff about him.

But the biggest part,, is his STRONG & SOLID support for our local FoNRA events. Not only would he donate a couple of guns for our banquet,, he'd buy a full table,, AND they'd buy a lot of raffle tickets, as well as bid on many items on our auction.
Some may recall about 6 years ago,, he had gotten into a bidding war over a special Ruger Vaquero, one of only 70 known, to celebrate the fact our chapter has hand an event all 25 years (then) of the FoNRA. Another friend outbid George for a total of $6100.00 for the gun. That gun was later part of a ROCS Display of (4) of those Vaquero's by me.
Then, for the 30th anniversary of the FoNRA,, we had a special Colt Python. Again,, George was into a bidding war with a fellow pawn shop owner. That pawn shop owner finally bid $6000 for it & said to George; "Damn it George,, quit bidding, I'm buying it as a gift to you!" So Alan won the auction, and had the paperwork done to George.

Those two little things are just a brief glimpse of the kind of person my friend George was. And he had a heck of a Ruger collection. Something we enjoyed talking about.

While I'll miss my friend,, think of his family & give a soft prayer for his wife Dot, and his family.
 
Some people are very special and your friend George sounds like he was one of the best. When you know someone like that they become a big part of your life and when you lose them it leaves a bigger hole than most. Fill your heart with good thoughts of him and do something daily in his honor.
 
I’m sorry to hear about your friend.

I remember you telling the story of his bidding war with his friend. That would have been so great to see in person.
 
Thanks all.

George has a good solid family. Hard working people,, that are also some of the best. Not only his kids and grandkids,, but the inlaws as well. It's always been fun to see them fill a table at my event. We'd even break our rule of "Only 8 people at a table" (required by the event place) by adding a 9th seat for a grandkid for them.

"I remember you telling the story of his bidding war with his friend. That would have been so great to see in person."

A little update to that saga. The auctioneer was not familiar with any of the players in that. He was our back-up auctioneer and had to fill in for our regular auctioneer. he's told that story all over MANY FoNRA events! He & I have spoken a bit about it,, and he says it was one of the most generous thing he's ever witnessed at an auction. He allowed it was a privilege to see.


We've known George's health has been bad for a while. I was checking on him about a month ago. This wasn't unexpected.
But,, I do know the family will continue their legacy with us and the community. Which included not only our FoNRA event,, but several other charities.
 
Friends like that are treasures. I'm sorry for your loss and my condolences to you and the family.
 
I don't know how old you are, Contender. I graduated HS in 1964. Our class of 450 has a website, where probably a third of the class are registered members. About once every month or two lately, I get an email that a site member has passed away. There are already 125 gone that we know of, and probably a similar number who are listed as "unknown" meaning they've not joined the site. My best friend who he and I worked on our junk cars together has been gone for ten years. I had planned to go back and call on him (I live elsewhere from him and my HS), but when I looked him up, he was already gone.

A few weeks ago, a site member who I had known in elementary, jr high, but less so in HS and not at all later, emailed me. He was now in the the big city next to my small town. He suggested we should get together for lunch one day. Before I could get back to him, about five days later, I received a notice from our Class of '64 website that he had just passed away.

So what's my point? Contender, you were in constant contact with someone important to you. There are a lot of people I've known who were important at some time, recently or long ago. I'm retired now, and as busy as I am (doing the things you wonder how you took care of when you were working), it's time to look people up and at least say hello how are you doing before they're gone.

Thanks for the post, Contender.
Bill
 
Bill,
Over the last month,, I've had a total of 5 people I know pass away. But this particular gentleman was a Ruger fan,, AND a friend. Plus,, he was a STRONG supporter of Freedom & gun rights.
That's the main reason I shared.

But you are correct. We should reach out to folks we know & care about just to let them know we do still care.

PS,, I'm a little bit younger than you Bill! :D I'm only 65.
 
contender said:
For many years,, I've had a good friend,, who collected old Colts, Winchesters & Rugers. He owned a "Pawn & Jewelry" store in Asheville. And he has a son who has one in a neighboring town.

He passed away at home today, with family around him.

I could share all kinds of wonderful stories about my friend, George Lane, and in the past I have shared stuff about him.

But the biggest part,, is his STRONG & SOLID support for our local FoNRA events. Not only would he donate a couple of guns for our banquet,, he'd buy a full table,, AND they'd buy a lot of raffle tickets, as well as bid on many items on our auction.
Some may recall about 6 years ago,, he had gotten into a bidding war over a special Ruger Vaquero, one of only 70 known, to celebrate the fact our chapter has hand an event all 25 years (then) of the FoNRA. Another friend outbid George for a total of $6100.00 for the gun. That gun was later part of a ROCS Display of (4) of those Vaquero's by me.
Then, for the 30th anniversary of the FoNRA,, we had a special Colt Python. Again,, George was into a bidding war with a fellow pawn shop owner. That pawn shop owner finally bid $6000 for it & said to George; "Damn it George,, quit bidding, I'm buying it as a gift to you!" So Alan won the auction, and had the paperwork done to George.

Those two little things are just a brief glimpse of the kind of person my friend George was. And he had a heck of a Ruger collection. Something we enjoyed talking about.

While I'll miss my friend,, think of his family & give a soft prayer for his wife Dot, and his family.
Click to expand...
As we ask get older we start to lose friends and family faster. It seems like the pain from our losses is deeper. It also seems to take longer to ease up. I was one of 3 guys who were as close as God would let his better. We were the 3 amigos. Now it's only me. I lost one 7 years ago and the other one 3 years ago. I still feel lost some days. No buds to hang out with or go places with, or work on things with. They are with God and they are looking down at me fumbling around. I still the cherish the time we had together.
Be safe
 
Prayers sent! How I missed this I don’t know. As others have noted, our friends are dying at a faster rate. Really, we aren’t that old, are we?(73) lol
gramps
 
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