The ironic thing is, shortly after his Alaska fishing trip (he took his wife with him), his wife came down with cancer. There was a point she wasn't expected to live. You know, the usual thing you hear so many times .... she may have 6-months, etc. With surgeries and treatments, she ended up being a survivor. That was probably 15-20 years ago. Well, she's still around and outlived him.

It's not mentioned in his obit and the shop was crowded when we went in, so I didn't ask. Arnie was a hard-core Trumpian and I can't help wondering if Covid got him. I have no clue, but I could easily believe he would have been an "anti-vaxxer". He was very active, always healthy, non-smoker (not sure if he drank), has never been over weight and always a hard worker, on his feet all day for 6-days/week most of his life. When there Saturday, I noticed one of the barbers (Steve) was still there. He'd worked for Arnie for as long as I can remember. I may try to catch up to him someday and find out what took ol' Arnie down .... but then again, I kind of wonder if I should just leave it alone. TBH, I get teared up when I sit here writing about him. He was a character and I'll never meet another like him. He'll be sorely missed by me and according to the comments on the barber shop's FB page (just checked it out this morning), many feel the same as me. Odd, the FIRST comment on the FB copy of his obit, was this entry: (it mirrors exactly what I wrote here Saturday)

"Arnie has cut my hair for 47 years. He was a jokester, loved to cut up and pick. I learned early, don't bother telling him how you want your hair cut, he did it the way he wanted it. I grew to love the man. Till we meet again Brother."