Another Goodbye to Another Good Friend
Just heard from a mutual friend today that my bud Dave Anstine died this summer. Dave and I worked together at Nortel and then at CSC, Dave in Richardson, TX and me in RTP. Dave was hard-working, funny, smart, loyal and one of the most fun people I've ever been around. I have no idea what happened to him and maybe it doesn't matter - all the matters is that a good man is no longer with us.Dave introduced me to Deep Ellum in Dallas and I introduced him to The Cave in Chapel Hill. Whenever we were able to get together, trouble would likely ensue and we'd somehow talk our way out of any negative repercussions. He was bright, charming and irrepressible.
I was in Dallas for meetings not long after Dave bought his first house. It was up in Plano when Dallas Metro real estate was pretty cheap (may still be) and Dave had bought this 3500 sf place and furnished it with exactly the following:
1 easy chair
1 TV and stereo
1 mattress/box springs
2 kitchen stools
One bedroom was where his clean laundry was neatly folded in stacks on the floor. The window coverings were brown butcher paper taped (or stapled?) up over them. It was perfect.
Dave introduced me to the Old 97s, the Killers and more recently to Caro Emerald. I hope I turned him on to some good music as well. We lost touch for awhile other than yearly Christmas cards and the occasional Facebook chat until earlier this year, when he told me that he was quitting his job and moving to Houston to help take care of his aging parents. A couple of months later he asked if I'd mind being a reference (which of course I didn't) and he sounded a little frustrated in his job search. Then after I lost my job at Quintiles, he reached out (just a few weeks before he passed away) with welcome words of encouragement, ending with this:
"I am always in your corner as a colleague and friend"
And he was, to the end.
Labels: Friends
