missed chances
Aug. 23rd, 2005 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateSo about two weeks ago, a guy I knew through SCA fencing had a stroke & car accident and died a few days later. And those who were fighting at pennsic wore black ribbons & fought for him, and did all the little things that one occasionally looks at and wonders about how silly they seem, but you have to do something, because that was your friend, and he's not there anymore.
But anyway, I didn't know him really well: he was a small quiet guy, slightly funny-looking but nice, a bit diffident lefty who thought way too hard instead of attacking as a fencer (not that this isn't a problem I have as well), passionate about eastern european folk dance and Hungarian history, with a girlfriend/fiancee who had gotten him into the SCA and was planning on moving out to the DC area soon. Looking forward to his first Pennsic.
And then I read his obituary this afternoon, and it turns out that he was some kind of founding father of archaeology for the military, and had done all sorts of prehistoric stuff across the southwest and his job had to do with interfacing DC politics & archaeological conservation. And I had no idea, and I really wish I'd know that and had a chance to talk to him about it. Except that really, if he hadn't died, there's no likelihood that I would have found out, except by accident, because the subject most likely wouldn't have come up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001259.html
(except I knew him as Vitez Sandor (that's "Shandor", as the hungarians list the first name last))
But anyway, I didn't know him really well: he was a small quiet guy, slightly funny-looking but nice, a bit diffident lefty who thought way too hard instead of attacking as a fencer (not that this isn't a problem I have as well), passionate about eastern european folk dance and Hungarian history, with a girlfriend/fiancee who had gotten him into the SCA and was planning on moving out to the DC area soon. Looking forward to his first Pennsic.
And then I read his obituary this afternoon, and it turns out that he was some kind of founding father of archaeology for the military, and had done all sorts of prehistoric stuff across the southwest and his job had to do with interfacing DC politics & archaeological conservation. And I had no idea, and I really wish I'd know that and had a chance to talk to him about it. Except that really, if he hadn't died, there's no likelihood that I would have found out, except by accident, because the subject most likely wouldn't have come up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001259.html
(except I knew him as Vitez Sandor (that's "Shandor", as the hungarians list the first name last))