Unfortunately a house fire (I am the fire dept. chaplain) kept me from the roast so I thought I would take this venue to vent my remarks and invite others to do the same.
I was going to wear my clergy collar and make the following remarks.
"Dearly beloved we are gathered here to remember the life of Mike. IN life he helped so many hams but now his key is silent. (Pause acting like someone is talking)
"Oh retirement??? Not a death??? Are you sure??? Take his pulse again! No seriously Mike moves so little no one will be able to tell his retired or not. I recently took a day off work and this a day of conversations with K0BUD.
9:55 Mike says, "Oh darn, some one is in my parking spot. Now I have to find another and get to work. 73s."
11:00 This is K0BUD is anyone out there? I am headed for lunch and have a couple minutes to talk.
13:00 73's to you. I have to get back to work now.
14:00 This is K0BUD monitoring on my commute home.
In my guesstimation, K0BUD spent more time on his commute to and from home and to and from lunch than he did in the office. Lunch alone was more time. So come on Mike, will anyone in the office really notice you are gone. Three years from now they might realize you aren't coming back from lunch.
Are you sure he isn't dead?? Check him again! Harvey Kohrman, the comedian recently died. Most of us will remember him from the "Carol Burnett Show" with co-stars Tim Conway, Lyle Waggoner and Vicki Lawrence. Well Tim Conway recently went to practice his eulogy at the funeral home. The funeral director set up the microphone and left Conway to practice. A few minutes later the mortician saw the casket wiggle, then it started to shake violently. Suddenly the lid flew open and Kohrman sat straight up laughing histerically. "STOP, STOP" he told Conway, "You're killing me!"
Harvey Kohrman showed more life at that moment than we see in Mike today.
Seriously though we all look forward to K0BUD being available on the radio 24/7 telling us how we need to improve our signals. Gee you'll have time to come over and fix all our problems too! What a plus.
Mike we wish you all the best in the peaceful days ahead!
Thank you!