William was a legend in the Scuba world and I had a small Pacific Lumpsucker that he made from a dive friend many years ago. William was on my list to meet the next chance I got to be on Quadra. My mom requested that she and I travel to Campbell River in October of 2021 as a gift for her 80th birthday. She had never been to CR and a friend of hers (Lois) had moved there a decade or so ago. So I booked us an Air bnb and off we went. Mom and Lois hadn’t seen each other in at least 20 years and so that was fun to witness and then when I said I wanted to scoot over to Quadra to meet William, both Lois and mom wouldn’t be left behind. For them it was an adventure. Well, we had a very fun day. It was a sunny day (!! in October) and we picnic’ed on Rebecca Spit and then we went to the workshop. It was a great afternoon. William and I got to talk ocean and critters and then Lois spotted the old fashioned organs that WIlliam had saved from the dump and she sat down and started playing. Well…it was a sing along! Lois and Mom were full of how much fun they had had, and I had a small collection of William’s art and we were all happy. I am so deeply sad to hear of WIlliam’s passing. It feels like it was just the beginning of something for him. True art is often appreciated more after the artist passes and as sad as that makes me, I truly hope that the world sees more of his work. It is awesome! My deep sympathies to all who loved him above the water. May there be soooo many fishes in his world where he is now.
