I got news about of Brother Doug’s passing from Jim Wallace.
We of course spoke briefly of the deja vu quality of it in
remembering the death of Russell Jaqua of the same disease
less than a year ago. For me it brought back that deep sense
of lose of not only a friend but of a great life force that has
been part of the close knit group that banded together in
the re-discovery of art and craft of blacksmithing in America
over 30 years ago.
I first really got to know Doug in the early 80’s when we both
served on the ABANA board of directors. It was a difficult
time for ABANA then and I remember clearly during one of
our late night board meetings in the cabins at Emmerett
Studebakers . Doug broke the tension of the night bye
saying “ I think its time for a White Tower Run “ I knew
then he was a man who had his priorities straight . One
of those was to enjoy life and not let the negative rule the
day. He was also a tireless teacher and supporter of younger
smiths. Doug was also one of early smiths who while admiring
and respecting traditional blacksmithing always pursued his
own contemporary designs. It was a great pleasure for me
to see such a large body of his work shown at the ABAN
a conference in Seattle. It gave people an opportunity to
understand how long Doug had been working at what
people today call the leading edge of the field.
I spent a great deal of time with Russell in the last year of
his fight with ALS and I spoke with Doug several times .
It is a more difficult struggle than one can imagine, Doug
and Bonnie dealt with it in the same courage’s and humorous
way they had lived their life together . My thoughts and
prayers are with you Bonnie. I don’t need to tell you
what a wonderful man Doug was. It is a profound
statement about ones life when you see the line of friends
at the door, it will be a long one for Doug.
