going back to the 2000s is giving funeral speeches and writing e-obituary-condolences for family and friends. A sample from yesterday for an old high-school buddy who was a very unique individual:
Condolences & Memories
Lorne was a pretty-laid-back-from-the-get-go guy, a grade 11 and 12 classmate-friend of mine in 1965-67 at Silver Heights Collegiate. We kept in touch into the first year of university during the first year of U of W.
In grade 12, Lorne came into his own just as the completely baffling, infamous Physics PSSC course was being piloted. Even the teacher was unable to explain the answers, and she and the rest of us always turned to him for explanations and verifications. He was also the only one in class who knew how to operate a sliderule, which was being allowed in the classroom for the first time. Suddenly the class nerd became known, overnight, as “Sliderule”, the cool SHCI physics genius.
We eventually lost touch in university and it wasn’t till the mid-70s, when I was back in Winnipeg, that we met up at one of his then-favorite spots, Churchill’s. He was magnanimously hosting, sipping brandy and smoking foreign cigarettes from a tin. He seemed to be at the pinnacle of coolness on that convivial reunion.
That Lorne later got more into photography is not surprising. (He and Robert were both taking photos as early as 1966.) I will add that–as you can see from the charities he supported–that Lorne was an arts fan as well as a bright sciences-computer guy. He loved music: Beatles, Dylan, Ravi Shankar (the latter in his Indian period when he started lotus-positioning). I used to drop by his house to listen to “Blonde on Blonde”, “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme”, and “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” when those albums first came out; his parents’ stereo was excellent!
Lorne was truly one-of-a-kind, an individual, and true to himself. He is one of the most memorable persons I have ever met or had the pleasure of knowing. My sincere condolences to his children and family.