My tribute to Vince. I first met Vince in Montreal in the late 60s, where he had come to take the position of Water Treatment Chemist at Montreal Engineering. I suppose our similar English backgrounds from the industrial North and Midlands helped us get acquainted. We may have remained friendly acquaintances had not chance comments, first about music and then about the famous Goon Show had us in ernest conversation. It wasn't long before we were visiting each others homes comparing collections of LP records and listening together over a glass of wine. Then we both discovered a mutual admiration of Oscar Peterson and that transformed the relationship into a real friendship. Later, we both found ourselves living in Calgary and the meetings became regular jam sessions in Vin's basement den where his large record collection had me fascinated. We would listen for hours, till Joan came in with tea and biscuits. Vince was always very generous in allowing me to borrow anything from his collection. He was a whiz at sound reproduction, and I owe all I know on the subject to him. By this time we had become "soul brothers" as well as fast friends. Joan and Margaret became good friends and we all enjoyed each others company. Eventually I was transferred to Ontario and we had to correspond via Canada Post. No such thing as email yet. Sometimes we would visit each other while travelling on business, there was always a bed at our house or his, so we continued our music appreciation evenings as usual. He always seemed to be at home with us and we could all appreciate a good joke. Another thing which endeared him to us was his youthful enthusiasm towards whatever would be going on, and the ready smile. When Margaret was struggling with metric and standard cooking instructions in the kitchen, he was a walking unit converter. When things took a downturn for me in the early 80s Vince was there. I can still remember using his home in Calgary as a job search base. He even invited my English cousin to stay, while he was there to attend my son's wedding. Just like people remember where they were when some event happens, I still have a mental picture of what I was doing when I heard about his hart attack. I was too far away to be of any practical help, and relived to hear he was getting better and most impressed when he told me he would never light a cigarette again, and he had the will power to make sure he didn't. We had a good laugh over the phone, going over the calculation of how much money that would save and how that translated into CDs and electronic equipment. Every time he and Joan were travelling or on holiday, we would be part of their itinerary, and we started a regular habit of going to or meeting somewhere and spending a few days together. We have enjoyed their time-shares from Vancouver Island to Devon and Cornwall. We've had cream teas on the moors together, and Swiss Chalet dinners all over Canada and more inbetween. When we moved to Red Deer in 1999, I had to be at work on the day our furniture arrived from Vancouver. Vince and Joan came up from High River, and when I got home, the apartment was ready for living in, even my stereo system was all set up for me. Vince was solid gold. It was time for me to retire and New Brunswick had a strong pull for us, so here we are. As luck would have it, Vince and Joan also moved back East and were able to visit NB on three occasions. We could continue our evening sessions like old times after after the two "Shes who must be obeyed" had retired for the night. and tour the province together on day trips, and even stay in St Andrews for a few nights. We would raid the second hand CD markets for bargains, as we had always done. Shangrilah! It was great to see my pal one more time last October. Knowing Vince was a real privilege and we will sorely miss him. Goodbye old friend. Oh Vince! Give my regards to Oscar. Tom.