RIP Al Smith

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AntonLargiader
Posts: 256
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:43 am

RIP Al Smith

Post by AntonLargiader » Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:48 pm

I got a note from Finlay that Al died February 20th after a two year fight with mesothelioma.

Finlay and Al sought Meredith and I out (as local BMW experts!) in about 2006. They'd been riding for a while, most recently on Harleys, and just weren't into the culture they found. It was like we were being interviewed :) but they decided to make the switch and Finlay got a new R1150R and Al got a new R1200RT. Their sons also ride, and there is a picture here on the forum where Al was present at breakfast one week at Stoney Creek in Wintergreen.

He was a vet - a grad of the excellent program at U of Penn - and became our vet when we got cats in 2009.

Looking for a lighter bike, he switched to an R1200R and sold the RT to Paul Bower. The cancer treatments weakened him and he talked to me about selling the R and then getting something even smaller after he was stronger again, and that is more or less the last I heard from him.

I always found Al to be surrounded by an aura of calmness, not only in work (where he had to give us the terminal diagnosis on a cat) but in every interaction I ever had with him. He has been a wonderful example to me of a person at peace with his surroundings.

There will be a memorial service at 3:00 PM this coming Saturday (March 7) at First Presbyterian Church on Park Street in Charlottesville.
R1100RS, R100R, K75RT, R100PD, R100GS, XR400R, R75/5x2, Jetta TDI

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