Sad beyond words. Sad beyond words.

I always enjoyed reading Fred's kindly, patient and informed replies on here. He will be missed indeed. My condolences to his family and friends,

God speed Fred and rest in peace.

Gerry

I was aware that Fred was nearing the end of his life just over a month ago when I asked Mike about him. It is very sad news for myself and many others.
I think it was 2005 when I started using Qimage and right from the beginning Fred was very helplful. Later on we were definitely 'online' friends when we used Skype for video chats on a regular basis where we not only talked about photography but our families and other activities. I think the last online chat we had was within the last 2 years and have exchanged emails in the last 2 months. I still have some of his photos that he shared with me.
We'll miss him on the forum but I do have good memories of him.
Terry

That's Fred: always there when anyone needed him.  He helped me with beta testing, shared ideas and offered support (both work and life).  I've known him for 25 years and his personality would just draw you in.

His wife passed away a few years ago and since that time, every morning at exactly 8:30am I would call him for the morning pow-wow talking about movies, books, photography, and down to what we had for dinner the previous day.  I had the routine down so that I dial the last digit at 8:29:58 so his phone would ring at exactly 8:30.  If I was even a second late, he'd answer with "you're late" since he'd be watching the seconds on his atomic watch (which was a birthday present from me years ago).     Up until his fall, it was clear that each day was getting more difficult for him living alone at 90, struggling more with chores and just getting around.  My last call to him was on June 11.  He had his fall on June 12 and called me from the hospital that morning.  At that point it was hard to get him on the phone so I'd show up in his room wherever he was (hospital, rehab #1, rehab #2, and finally hospice).  Other than battling pain, he was himself all the way up until about 3 days before he passed.  He never lost that sharp mind of his.  His wish was to live in his own home until the end and I'm just glad other than the last 6 weeks, he was able to do that.  He had a lot of friends who would help him and particularly two neighbors who could run over if something happened.  We would watch out for him, take him food and drink when the power was out after a hurricane, help him in the house if he needed it, and so on.

May take some time for it to sink in that he's really gone.  As others have said, he's just always been there.

May he rest in peace.

Mike

And condolences to you too Mike.  I know that Fred was far more to you personally than a Qimage guru.

This is very sad news.  When I first joined this forum in 2017, I posted a couple of questions,
which Fred answered quickly in his usual helpful way. I once approached him privately with
what I knew to be a very basic question (I did not post it on the forum to avoid being
"embarassed" in public) and he typically replied with the answer, and a request to return
to him if I had any other queries.  So helpful, and a gentleman too!

Sorry for your loss.
Jason Machen