One of the very first people I've meet in ham radio in the early 1990's was Emil Messina. Emil was always available to assist a new guy. He loved talking tech stuff. Emil and I got into QRP kit building at the same time.
As I've moved away from ham radio my on-air conversations with Emil also decreased. Emil and I both worked in public safety and we would continue to run into each other over the years from time to time, but our meetings were rare.
I was sad when I picked up the latest issue of QST and I saw my old friend's name listed as a SK.
Emil's obit is avail at:
http://miva.delawareonline.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?obits.mv+59756
Now I think about all of the other friends I haven't seen or talked to for a while.