We’re sad to see him go, but it was a blessing to have him as long as we did. We should all be so lucky to have 90 years of adventures on this earth.

There has been a lot of heartwarming stories on social media about the impact Bill has had on people’s lives. A teacher, a business owner, a dive instructor, a father, a father-in-law, a grandfather, a step grandfather, a great grandfather, a husband, a brother, a brother-in-law, there are so many people Bill touched with his kind ways.

You’ll often hear people talking in remembrance of a loved one that “there isn’t a person he/she didn’t like”. 

Well, that’s almost true for Bill. 

I know one person he didn’t like.

Jane and I accompanied Bill and Evelyn to a Dive Equipment Manufacturers Association convention in Orlando. Bill asked if I wanted to walk around the venue to see the vendor booths. Sure, why not?

Many people recognized Bill and he would chat with them. We were walking down one particular aisle and Bill stopped at a booth. The backdrop was a huge photo of Lloyd Bridges from his Sea Hunt days.

Bill asked the vendor if he knew Lloyd Bridges. His answer was no.

Bill proceeded to say, and I quote, “I don’t like him”.

I was stunned because that comment was so out of character.

Later in the day I asked Bill why he didn’t like Lloyd Bridges.

He said it was because he was at event with Lloyd Bridges where several children asked for his autograph. He refused. Bill felt that was impolite and wrong.

It now made sense to me why he didn’t like Lloyd Bridges.

I could list all the accomplishments and milestones in Bill’s life, but it’s well covered in his obituary. It can be found here.

Also, the Minneapolis StarTribune published an article about Bill’s passing. It can be found here.

We appreciate all of our family, and friends (which included many of our “Alaska” friends) who attended his service.

Definitely a life well lived. We’re going to miss him.

The post Bill Matthies appeared first on Beaver Creek Cabins.

Slow Ride, Back in the Saddle Again, Do You Feel Like I Do?, More Than A Feeling, Kashmir, and many, many more songs and albums that are now considered “classic rock”.

He was, however, a well rounded audiophile and owned a lot of albums from different genres. Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, John Prine, and yes, Gordon Lightfoot.

When he bought a new album, he would play it and play it and play it.

If he really liked a song on an album, he’d repeat it long enough until he knew all the lyrics.

By default and proximity, I too would learn know most of the lyrics. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” happened to be one of them.

Shortly after the jangly guitar intro, Gordon and my brother would start to sing,  “The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee…”

If Gordon was at an 11, my brother was at a 12. 

You’ll have to admit, to this day it’s still a hauntingly, beautiful ballad. 

Because this is the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, documentaries and news clips have been popping up everywhere. It’s still a mystery how a 730 foot ship with 29 men aboard sunk without even a MAYDAY radio call. 

Speaking of mysteries, my father-in-law Bill Matthies, loves one especially if it involves anything underwater. A scuba diver since 1958, he’s been a presenter at the annual Gales of November conference sponsored by the Lake Superior Maritime Museum Association. (I touched on Bill’s scuba career in a blogpost over 12 years ago. It can be found here.)

Anyway, I recently asked Bill about the 50th anniversary. He said he wished the ship would have sunk in shallower water so divers could solve the mystery. It rests in 530 feet of water which is too deep for scuba diving. He feels the families deserve closure.

For now, the mystery will remain unsolved. The wreck site sits in Canadian waters and the government considers it a gravesite. It will remain undisturbed.  

So, the legend lives on…

The post Gales of November appeared first on Beaver Creek Cabins.