greasecarguy
New member
Dear Friends,
It is with great sadness that I say, my neighbor, friend, fellow minelabber, metal detecting guru and mentor passed this morning. He lived 2 doors from me in a town of about 500. How ironic that he moved here from Brooklyn about 5 years ago and I happened to hear he was an avid MDer. He turned me on to Minelab and the parks. If the grass wasn't short, he didn't want any part of it. "These machines don't like air between the coil and the ground" he would say. After going out with him 3 years ago, I learned a lesson. He would hear a good tone, call me over and let me listen with my tesoro. Naturally, my machine wouldn't even pick up a sound, and out comes a LC. Next a 1/2 penny and so on. After this, I know I would someday soon own a machine like his. He was running an XS.
Minelab is the only machine he ever owned although he tried several. He had detected for ~ 13 years in both Puerto Rico and NY. At 67, he never talked or bragged much about the stuff he found and never posted on line, unless you knew him, you wouldn't know how good he was at this hobby. He didn't want others to know of his successes. When asked what he found, "nothin" he would say. He got a kick out of the guys in the park that would brag about a pouch full of clad or "new money" as he called it. He loved hearing this because they were excited and the shallow targets were removed to expose the deepies for him.
Always looking for a new spot and willing to give anything a try, he was a master (in my opinion) of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, finding 1000's of IH's, 1000's of silvers and coppers over the years; Cobbs, religious pieces, pieces of 8 and old decorative jewelry and even some unidentified coins and tokens. If it was deep and worth diggin', he would hear it. Even recently, he told me while in the park, he came upon a middle aged man with an E trac. Said he had a brand new machine, the minelab hat and pouch. The guy shadowed him, astonished at the silver he dug until he became so frustrated, he left the park as his e trac failed him. Just goes to show you it's not just the machine, but the person running it!
I don't know who I am going to get thrown of of parks with anymore...being from NYC, he was a tough son of a gun, and took no bull from anyone. With that heavy accent, he was the little intimidating guy with the machine. His boy (in his thirties) is pretty good with the machine as well. I hope to get out with him too, however, he's now into fishing more than MDing.
When you travel distances with an Md'er you spend a lot of time with someone, and the two of us did spend a lot of time together over the past 3 years. You get to know each other, especially when you are neighbors.
He was giddy with excitement before we got to a site; like a little kid awaiting a trip to the amusement park. He couldn't wait to hear the sound of silver he was so keyed up! If you have seen my earlier posts this week, you can see that we were in both the Bronx last week and Albany, NY Sat. On Sunday, he went back to the Bronx solo (being asked to leave 2 different spots), I stopped and spoke to him yesterday when i drove by as he was outside with his dog. He was begging me to go to another park quite a distance from home, over 4 hours. He needed to coordinate this trip such that his boy would take care of his Labrador retriever. He was so connected to his chocolate companion, he would NEVER leave her for long without the attention she deserved.
Such a shame. As sad as it is, I was very lucky to have known him. RIP John.
Thanks for listening.
Aaron
It is with great sadness that I say, my neighbor, friend, fellow minelabber, metal detecting guru and mentor passed this morning. He lived 2 doors from me in a town of about 500. How ironic that he moved here from Brooklyn about 5 years ago and I happened to hear he was an avid MDer. He turned me on to Minelab and the parks. If the grass wasn't short, he didn't want any part of it. "These machines don't like air between the coil and the ground" he would say. After going out with him 3 years ago, I learned a lesson. He would hear a good tone, call me over and let me listen with my tesoro. Naturally, my machine wouldn't even pick up a sound, and out comes a LC. Next a 1/2 penny and so on. After this, I know I would someday soon own a machine like his. He was running an XS.
Minelab is the only machine he ever owned although he tried several. He had detected for ~ 13 years in both Puerto Rico and NY. At 67, he never talked or bragged much about the stuff he found and never posted on line, unless you knew him, you wouldn't know how good he was at this hobby. He didn't want others to know of his successes. When asked what he found, "nothin" he would say. He got a kick out of the guys in the park that would brag about a pouch full of clad or "new money" as he called it. He loved hearing this because they were excited and the shallow targets were removed to expose the deepies for him.
Always looking for a new spot and willing to give anything a try, he was a master (in my opinion) of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, finding 1000's of IH's, 1000's of silvers and coppers over the years; Cobbs, religious pieces, pieces of 8 and old decorative jewelry and even some unidentified coins and tokens. If it was deep and worth diggin', he would hear it. Even recently, he told me while in the park, he came upon a middle aged man with an E trac. Said he had a brand new machine, the minelab hat and pouch. The guy shadowed him, astonished at the silver he dug until he became so frustrated, he left the park as his e trac failed him. Just goes to show you it's not just the machine, but the person running it!
I don't know who I am going to get thrown of of parks with anymore...being from NYC, he was a tough son of a gun, and took no bull from anyone. With that heavy accent, he was the little intimidating guy with the machine. His boy (in his thirties) is pretty good with the machine as well. I hope to get out with him too, however, he's now into fishing more than MDing.
When you travel distances with an Md'er you spend a lot of time with someone, and the two of us did spend a lot of time together over the past 3 years. You get to know each other, especially when you are neighbors.
He was giddy with excitement before we got to a site; like a little kid awaiting a trip to the amusement park. He couldn't wait to hear the sound of silver he was so keyed up! If you have seen my earlier posts this week, you can see that we were in both the Bronx last week and Albany, NY Sat. On Sunday, he went back to the Bronx solo (being asked to leave 2 different spots), I stopped and spoke to him yesterday when i drove by as he was outside with his dog. He was begging me to go to another park quite a distance from home, over 4 hours. He needed to coordinate this trip such that his boy would take care of his Labrador retriever. He was so connected to his chocolate companion, he would NEVER leave her for long without the attention she deserved.
Such a shame. As sad as it is, I was very lucky to have known him. RIP John.
Thanks for listening.
Aaron
