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              \          /     -cfbd-

As some of you may have heard, Colin Douthwaite, my father, died suddenly
but peacefully on 1 March 1999.

Dad was 69 and had had a long period of ill-health after major heart attacks
in 1991 and an almost-fatal cardiac arrest while kite-flying in 1997. So
although his death is a shock, it is not totally unexpected. Dad had had
quite a bad period before Christmas but had recovered well in the last few
weeks, and only last week performed with the Christchurch Liedertafel choir
for the launching of a new lifeboat at the Port of Lyttelton. He was in
great spirits and enjoying life.

Over the last seven or eight years, his participation in various newsgroups
has been a great source of enjoyment for him, particularly at those times he
was unable to pursue more physical activities. He relished telling us at
length about new ASCII pictures and about the machinations of Usenet
politics. He even relished the occasional flame-war. The thanks of my family
go to all you who participated in this form of fellowship which gave him so
much pleasure. Thank you too, for the many kind messages I have just browsed
in several of his favourite groups. They will be a great additional comfort
to my mother.

Thanks to a suggestion from an alt.ascii-art regular, I hope Dad's memory
will be preserved through the enjoyment of an archive of some of his quirky
ASCII art.

Warm regards to all of you who "knew" Colin....
 

Ian Douthwaite