Corwin
Posted by SBG on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Back in 1985, I was a scrawny college kid (no, really) and I got a summer job working in the engineering department at Bobcat. It was quite a learning experience and I enjoyed the place so much that I worked there the rest of my college summers and after I graduated until 2001, when I pulled up stakes and moved to Minnesota to go to law school.
Anyway, there were a couple of us college kids working there, learning the ropes, having fun, and working on Bobcats. One of those guys was a guy by the name of Corwin. Corwin was a couple of years older than me and he started working at Bobcat after he graduated. A couple of years later, I did, too. I worked with Corwin on a couple of projects here and there. We were both part of a dedicated team at one time. By dedicated team, I mean that a bunch of us were squirreled away in a converted conference room, separate from anyone else in our department, focused on designing a new machine. We had a lot of fun working on that machine, and I always liked Corwin. Good guy. Funny with a devilish sense of humor. He wasn't afraid to cut you with that wit. My kind of guy.
A while back, I heard that Corwin had brain cancer and it wasn't good. We weren't what you would call close friends, but we always had fun together and when you work with a guy for 16 years, have a brewski together every now and again, well, you would have to be some kind of fiend not to feel bad about such a young guy with a family being sticken like that.
I had occasion to call Bobcat today and I was informed that my old colleague Corwin succumbed to his cancer this morning. He was 43. I have been away for a long time and didn't see him for the last couple of years. But, I feel bad for his wife and their daughter. That's way too young to die and they don't deserve to lose him, even though I know this has been very hard for them.
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Nice to see the good words for Corwin. I have worked with his sister for the past 7 years and know it has been very tough on her and the family. I found out about his passing this morning also, but didn't know you had worked with him at Bobcat.
Take care...
Sorry to hear of your loss, Cancer gets to many of us, Ive lost 2 brothers to cancer. Bobcat in ND?
Yes, Bobcat in ND. Cancer really is a tough thing and like you said, so common. Both of my grandmothers died of cancer and it is painful to watch people suffer through it. My mother-in-law has it and she has been fighting it for about 15 years. In that sense, she is a survivor, but we worry about her as she is not in remission. She has had breast cancer, lung cancer and now bone cancer. It is amazing what she has been through and she still lives her life. When you have a loved one with it, it is just so hard. But, you realize that almost everyone is touched by it.
Miller Man, Corwin was a good guy. I enjoyed working with him. We had a lot of fun. Although people weren't shocked, it's pretty hard to believe that he's gone already when I think about it.
My experience at Bobcat was strange in that a number of my co-workers have died while being employed there. I wrote last Christmas about my buddy Cody, who died in a car accident driving home from the Christmas party. It turns out that Corwin and I drove about 400 miles together to go to the funeral. Another guy I worked with died about a month ago. He was in his 50s I believe. One of my first bosses died unexpectedly at 48. Our former in-house attorney was 50 when he died. A couple of other guys that I worked with there and knew very well died in their 50s.