bill, thanks for letting us know.  that's hard duty, and i appreciate it.

i never met bill, but we had a lot of back and forth over the years.  he
went to lucca back in the early Aughts, and when he reported about the
window sash maker's shop he saw in borgo a mozzano (outside lucca) i asked
him about it.  long story short, i ended up there the next summer with two
saws from ed for the sashmaker, a picture of ed with the sashmaker, and a
thank you note from ed to him for sharing his story.

i went with my wife and her mother to the guy's shop, and they explained to
his son what we were doing there.  he got his dad, who had retired from
sashmaking, and he opened the shop to us.  i gave him the saws and the
photo, and he remembered ed as "such a nice man".  i still have, somewhere
the pictures of him (which i sent to ed) holding the saws and the picture
of ed holding the saws.  ed and i often spoke in the decade following about
meeting up in lucca for a drink to the old man's health.

we continued, until last week, to email about various all the time.  our
hope was to meet when i visited my brother and family in virginia, but due
to covid all that was delayed.  damn it, damn it, damn it.  it's so hard to
type through the tears.

rest in peace, ed.  i'll never look at a piece of purpleheart but think of
you and that mast.  and next time in lucca, i'll raise a toast to you and
your fine heart.

bill
felton, ca

On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 2:20 PM Bill Ghio via groups.io  wrote: