From Vic's Daughter

[tle0223]

Hello all,
Thank you so much for the love, support and kind messages to my father, me and the rest of my family, we appreciate it more than you can know. I am sorry to tell you that my father passed away at around 11:15 Sunday night. It was rough going for the past couple of weeks but he was peaceful at the end. I want you all to know how much you meant to him, you were his second family and every year, all winter, he couldn't wait til the spring, the sun and the wind so he could be back to Nitinat.
As per his wishes, we will not be having a funeral, but he did not want anyone to mourn or feel sad, just remember the good times.
Some of the family will be coming up to Nitinat one weekend in late June/early July for a memorial and to scatter his ashes. I hope all of you who meant so much to him can be there with us, I will email those of you whose addresses I know, and I will post on this sight for the rest of you, hopefully you can pass the word around for me. I will try to let you all know the date a couple of weeks in advance.
Thank you so much for your support,
Cheers to my Father
Terri

[JAMES HIHO]

Terri,
I am so sorry to read the news of Vics passing.
He will be greatly missed.
Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed at such a sad time in your life.
Our thoughts are with you all.
James C.

[JL]

We all will feel the presence of the 'Mayor' when we visit Nitinat. Every group fire I will think of Vic's enthusiasm & support. Jim . Let us all celebrate his positive energy.

[mortontoemike]

Vic was a great friend, mentor, and inspiration. He was a testimony to the fact that windsurfing is a life-long passion not just a young mans game. Seeing him convinced me that I could learn the sport late in life and have many years of joy being free on the water. Thanks for that Vic.

I always got a kick out of his devotion to the white plastic Vic-O-meter which was tied to a stick - propped up with some rocks on the beach at Nitinat. Vic had identified the 15 kts point in magic marker on the side of the piece of white plastic and he wouldn't bother wasting his energy until the wind encouraged it past that point.

I'll miss his campfires which provided the warmth of both fire and friendship after the sun went down.

Goodbye old friend. See you on the water ...

[Russian Dood]

Good bye Vic

You were a great inspiration for all of us.

I will always remember those nights by the fire sharing stories, laughter and joy of life. Thank you for being there for us, we all going to miss you.


My condolences to the family.

Andrey

[PhatBuddhA]

I will never forget your kind smile and welcoming camp fires. Your enthusiasm and perseverance to get “one more ride” was contagious. You are an inspiration to many people and your energy will always be present at Nitinat!

Bryan

[windwoman]

I will always have a strong visual image of Vic's windworn, sunbleached green chair planted firmly in his favorite spot on the beach. Vic is leaning back asleep after his one or two runs across the lake. It's a picture of complete contentment.

Vic was a man filled with a passion and love for life that kept his optimism so strong that he was able to beat the odds placed against him by a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer for for the past five years. For all of us in the medical profession that knew Vic he was a source of admiration for his spirit and continued amazement for what he accomplished and was able to enjoy after an extremely complicated and invasive surgery. He did this with such enthusiasm and zest for getting on with life it was infectious in the most wonderful way. My family and I were touched by this as he shared the many different facets of this personality and interests with us.
Vic had advice on just about anything you could imagine. From windsurfing and photograghy to blowing up the rocks in our backyard with plastic exposives to settling a colicky baby with a brandy-spiked bottle...... he'd been there and done it! He will be greatly missed by us.

I was fortunate to spend some time with him yesterday afternoon. I told him it was a good day for sailing. The leaves were dancing on the trees outside his room and the sun was shining in. I wasn't surprised this morning when I heard ....... I knew he was in a hurry to chase the wind.
Your spirit will always be there..... Pat Ashton

[nitnaht Pat]

My deepest heart felt condolences to the family
Nitinaht Pat...

[Windsurfish]

My deepest sympathies to the family for your loss. As a relative newcomer to the Nitinaht scene (+4 yrs), I have many great memories of Vic and our conversations. Vic always seemed to find the owner of misplaced gear, and acted as a glue in the site, bringing people together at his fire, at the "Vic site", as it will be known for a long time. Once, It was Vic, myself and two others from Vancouver at the lake in the early spring. I had decided the wind was done for the day. Vic convinced me otherwise, and against my better judgement, I left one sail rigged, stayed in my suit and packed up the rest. Sure enough, in 20 minutes, the wind came up and brought the plastic wind meter into the Smile zone - and raged for 2 more hours. I was the only one out on the water - I was late getting home, but learned "I have a lot to learn".... Thanks Vic, wherever you are, you will be missed.

Chris Gill

[LeeL]

I don't post much but Vic was one of the first people I met at Nitinat when I first started going some 15 years ago. My condolences.