My friend Peter M worked very hard at whatever he took on. He provided very appreciated aviation services for the twenty some years I knew him. Lots of wrecked plane recovery, and some movie work, and a spares business, which continues to this day. But, beyond the service he provided to our industry, and the excellent family he produced, he is extra memorable to me for a constantly positive attitude. Whenever I'd get him on the phone, I'd ask how he was, and no matter what, he would say: "I am excellent!". Even when I knew he had reason to not be excellent, he'd still say he was excellent. His self appointed job in life was to be positive and enthusiastic about life, and he did it every day. He'd stop in to my runway every now and then, usually with his teen aged daughter, who loved to fly.
Hard working, seemingly healthy as a horse, and with a cat 1 medical for his 25 years of flying, he died of a massive heart attack, while out snowmobiling with friends. His wife told me that he just went down, and that was that. A medical person was in the group, and performed CPR, but to no affect. I can sadly imagine him lying in the snow, looking up, saying: "I'm excellent!"
We all miss him, and things aren't the same without him, his business has never regained it's former success, though the team carry it along. For a couple of years, I flew with his daughter in any of his four planes, hoping she'd go on to her PPL, she flew the PA-18 wonderfully. But, she found boy, and moved away from flying. Peter has been well remembered in many places, so now here too....