There is no such place...

[Troutgetter]

...to write this on the place where everyone can read. Yes, there are more private places here...but this should be a public message.

Wilmer James Price has passed the bend in the river. We all do eventually.
This is not new news, rather, I seem to be the first person to place it here publically. I'm NOT in anyway the first person to express the loss.

Will (Greendrake) Price was more than a contributing member...he was my friend. He wasn't just my friend. I have never read or spoken to another about Will without someone saying he was thier friend also.

Will was a friend to mankind. Certainly to me.
Here's what our Great Mosquito King wrote of him on the pimp board:

Will and I became good friends over recent years. He was as kind, funny and helpful as anyone I have ever known and despite his worsening health he never felt sorry for himself and faced each day with a quiet courage. He was a lifelong avid outdoorsman and happiest when on a deer hunt or a trout stream. He was also one Hell of a talented rod maker.

Those of us whom were fortunate enough to know the man will carry him in our hearts and remember him with great fondness. That alone is a solid legacy but only a fraction of Will's totality and impact on his family and friends.

Ken

I loved that "old" man. He was, in many ways, the heart and soul of Grassart.
I woke up with lots of work to do today.
Yet...my mind is on the loss of Will from our little fraternity.
I just can't bring myself to believe he will never write here again.

Mike

PS thing...this is hardly any sort of obituary A giant of a man can not in any terms, have his life and love placed into some paragraph in a Forum as an end all.
The things Will taught me will live on in my own work.
Isn't that, in some way, immortallity?
It's more than I can hope for.
RIP Will. Where you are must be a better place than here. I (and your brothers) absolutely miss you already.

[PMcRoberts]

Mike,

Thanks for posting this!!

I would love to sit down and write my thoughts about Will, but more often than not, in recent days, I have only found myself sitting in my office, reflecting on the conversations and emails Will and I shared, and shaking my head in disbelief. Though I have seen and experienced the passing of a lot of family, friends, and strangers, you think I would become a bit hardened to these circumstances. I can honestly say that I have been struggling with this one.

Will is an incredible man. He is very well liked, and he will be missed immensely!! Our Grassart family has suffered a great loss!!

Will, I hope you are enjoying the streams and fields up there!! I will get the rod we discussed planed out, and will appoint it properly!! Dedicated to you, and I will fish it till the glue disinegrates!! Miss you buddy!!!

Best,
Brother Paul

[ttalsma]

Mike & Paul,

Thank you for your thoughts.

I'm trying to get caught up with posts to the tips site. I had a backlog of over a year's worth of emails that I had to format, categorize and eventually post to the site. In the batch that I finished last night were posts from three men that I'll find hard to forget:

Ralph Moon
John Channer - and -
Will Price

Men that freely gave their knowledge and words of encouragement. Men that though I never met in person, I feel a kinship with that is hard to explain. It is the common interest of bamboo that ties us together, but there is much more than that. I talked with Ralph on the phone several times. The man was a gem. He gave me some overwhelming encouragement that pushes me to do what I do to this day. I never had the pleasure of talking with John or Will, but did have the pleasure of being able to exchange emails with them.

When we've lost the people that we have in the last year or so, it really makes one take a step back and think about things. This whole bamboo "thing" that we're involved in is something special. Will, John and Ralph are just a few examples. I'm sure that we could all list a bunch more people that have affected us, I hope all of us here are able to affect many other people down the road in the same way that Will, John and Ralph have!!

[SnooKen]

Amen to all the above. Both Will and John shall always remain on the Grassart members list. I never got to know Ralph but never heard a word spoken against him.

Life has a way of filtering people. Flyfishing seems to draw a gentler and more contemplative group of people than other forms of fishing. Bamboo rods attract a subset even less concerned about size and numbers of fish caught and even more engaged by the overall experience and process.

My life has been enriched by the connection we all share with each other both here and in the "real" world. For each of us the legacies of Ralph, John and Will as well as our own have much more to do with what is done for others than anything else.

Ken