I have started to post this several times over the last few days, but always deleted the thread before hitting the submit button. I just couldn't get the tone of the post right. I'm not looking for sympathy here. I wanted to share what has happened in the last week, a lesson learned so to speak, so my friends here, my Henry Family, can perhaps learn MY lesson before it's too late.
Most of you know that I have been lucky enough to have a couple fine Officers in my life that guided me through my competitive shooting while I was competing. One was a Sergeant in my first department who was also a Former Marine, and it turned out we had a lot in common. We both spent time as door gunners, although he also became a Crew Chief, where my MOS in the Corps kept me from pursuing that goal. It's rare they will let Avionics Techs do so, it's happens, but not often. He was also the driving force behind the new range facility for my first department and ran the firearms training there for more than a decade, before returning to Patrol Operations. That Sergeant also became my Rabbi, available at the end of the phone line when I had a question, be it Law Enforcement, Shooting, or life in general. He was there, no matter what department I worked for and even after we both retired... Lou has been like family.
The second Officer was another Sergeant... he happened to be both the Rangemaster for another large metro department and my Sergeant's training/travel partner for competition, and that talented gunsmith who built three competition guns for me. He also was the type that rarely yelled, but a quiet word or two carried more weight than a tirade from most others. He has walked up during a match in the past and whispered a couple words of advice between strings, and I listened. Like EF Hutton, when Jerry took the time to speak, folks listen. My scores always improved.
Since Jerry retired and focused on his Gunsmithing and competitive shooting, he has remained extremely busy. He lives two hours away these days, and since I stopped shooting competition, I don't see him at the matches any longer. Lou lives ten minutes from me, retiring here in the boonies and building a backyard range like I did.
Out of respect for my old mentor's schedule, I didn't feel it was right to drop in his shop and visit, he had a two year waiting list for his guns; he had work to do.Lou called last week. He had been keeping me up on our old friend, who he saw at the matches and they practiced together often, until Jerry got sick. He had been battling a vicious disease, which he fought and fought hard. He lost that battle last week. I never got over to visit, although Lou had said he would let me know when Jerry felt up to a visit.
My message is simple... if there is someone in your life who has made a big difference, or even a small one and you have wanted to thank them. Don't wait too long to do so, or you might not get the chance to let them know. Time waits for no one, and once time passes, we can't turn back the clock.
Jerry Built both these guns for me to shoot in the State Level PPC Matches all those years ago, both still shoot as well as the day they were built:
The Bull Barreled 38
- PPC 38 Keefer Custom.jpg (271.05 KiB) Viewed 1384 times
Jerry took my good ol' Springfield .45 and made it into something GREAT.
- Match 45.jpg (267.82 KiB) Viewed 1384 times
- first 12 rounds.jpg (257.97 KiB) Viewed 1384 times
Fired another 24 rounds.
- 24 rounds 25 yards.jpg (280.04 KiB) Viewed 1384 times
(Work friend... we'd eat lunch together, sit and talk about mutual interests and the like, but we didn't hang out away from work.)
