Silent Key - Douglas Dodd (GD3RFK)
I seem to have spent most of the night writing and then rewriting this, It has been a hard one to write, the Douglas that I remember was full of life and always wanted to see the best in everything around him, and now I am finding it very hard to find the words that I am trying to get over here.
I was not expecting this so soon, I suppose selfishly I wanted Douglas to hold on a little longer, and now that he has gone off on his next big adventure, the world seems a lot emptier. I spent most of the night awake trying to hold the tears back, as I am left very much alone now.
I did not see the signs, but looking at the last photo that I have of Douglas that was only taken a week ago, I suppose that you can see that he had had enough of the discomfort that he was in and that he was ready to go.
Douglas left us on the 1st day of 2024 and will remain a big part of my life and will also be a large hole that will take a long time to mend. I will miss his stories of the people that he has met around the world and the fun that he once got up to, he had stayed true to being a Radio Ham throughout his life, and even up to the end, we often would talk about me repairing the Ten-Tec Orion I Model 565 that was once his, he was surprised that I was still trying to keep this radio alive, but I told him it meant a lot to me as it was once his, and I was hoping to keep it going as long as I could, and it will be well looked after for many years to come.
This news that I got last night from his wife, Margaret, completely ripped out my heart and I find it really hard to cope with at the moment, I have not just lost another Radio Ham that was also a friend, I have lost a ‘dear friend’ who just happened to be a Radio Ham, my own medical appointments made it hard to visit Douglas, and now I wish I had forced the issue and visited more, I hate this feeling that I should have visited more, I hope that he knew just how much I cared about him as a close friend.
I am going to miss you ‘Old Friend’, I will see you soon…
Last Updated : 2nd January 2024
