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Hey Chris, just saw this message.

I'm really sorry to hear about this. It's a sad situation.

One thing I've always tried to focus on is not how a person died, but how they lived.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend and business partner.

Chris,

Just now, 3 months after Rusty's death, I have learned about it. I have known Rusty for about 15 years, and I observed that he was a gentile spirit and he accepted everyone, human or not, without prejudice. No matter what problems they had, Rusty was their best friend. As you suggested, he had a tough demeanor, but a compassionate heart. As an example, if you consider his love for his animals, especially those that came from a neglected background, he was an angel in disguise. Without question, he was the best thing that ever happened in their life! In my life, I have not known more than one or two others that cherished their friendships, as Rusty did. If you knew Rusty, you would know that he would drop what he was doing, no matter when or where, anyone, friend or not, needed help.

He was one of those rare people who dived into any project, head-first, irregardless of the likelihood of failure! When he went back to school, first time since high-school, around 2006, his teachers told him that he did not have the basic, intermediate & advanced math, that would allow him to master his advanced engineering classes. His teachers suggested that he drop the advanced courses and take more basic courses to start with. Rusty had no time for that, stayed on target, while he continued to work a full schedule at Ross Technology. He studied the prerequisites on his own, pulling many 'all-nighters', and aced each of his advanced engineering classes. It was that dogged determination, and his refusal to fail, that drove him to his many many personal successes! There is not one thing that I know of, where Rusty failed to complete his goal, no matter how impossible they seemed to his friends! And we were lucky to have the moral support of Rusty!

I am certain that he challenged himself, in ways that he shared with no one, most days of his life. It was as though he knew that his life would be cut short, and he had little time to make his accomplishments. Chris, he spoke of you often, and also of his friends at Ross Technology, including Don, who always honored Rusty's dad's contribution to the company by looking out for his friend's son. Don was in may ways his father figure after his father's death. Rusty will be greatly missed by us all! What we all can take from his friendship, is that: 1) life may be short, 2) the impossible is actually possible, and 3) that friendships with people and animals is what makes life worth living!

MikeD

Thanks Mike.

Yea it is hard driving into my WISP office in Leola as I pass his house and I want to just stop in and hug the guy!

Very very missed friend.