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  #1  
Old 07-24-2020, 01:32 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Hello All,

Has anyone here heard from, or talked with, “teflonrocketry1” (Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055 [his last YORF posting was back in March])? We had been corresponding fairly regularly, but lately he hadn’t been doing well, and my latest e-mail message to him, on July 13th (he’s always been quick to reply), has gone unanswered so far, and I’m worried.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help!
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
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Old 07-24-2020, 01:51 PM
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I am afraid to reply that he has passed back in April. Covid-19 related. Link to obit below.

https://obits.cleveland.com/obituar...9985&fhid=22348

There was some discussion of it here at the time.


Earl
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  #3  
Old 07-24-2020, 02:20 PM
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I chatted with him about 4 days before he passed.
He had only been home for about a week after his last chemotherapy appointment and my understanding is that he was immuno-compromised.
He was diagnosed with COVID one day and passed the next.
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, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !

Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
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Last edited by ghrocketman : 07-24-2020 at 08:17 PM.
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  #4  
Old 07-24-2020, 02:34 PM
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His last post was made a week before he died.
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  #5  
Old 07-24-2020, 06:47 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl
I am afraid to reply that he has passed back in April. Covid-19 related. Link to obit below.

https://obits.cleveland.com/obituar...9985&fhid=22348

There was some discussion of it here at the time.


Earl
Speaking of discussion, I have a related question about Bruce, which I’ll post in this thread, below my replies to you all.

Thank you for this information, Earl, sad though it is (although my sadness is for his wife, children, relatives, and friends, rather than for him, as strange—and cold—as that may sound [I have a reason for not including Bruce himself in that]). He was suffering terribly, and I have as well (I very nearly died in the hospital in 2017, in great pain, from a Staph—and a Pseudomonas—infection that entered my body through numerous lymph-oozing leg wounds, “thanks” to my Lymphedema, a disease I wouldn’t wish on even the worst serial killer).

I’d reached a point where, as my late friend Gary Moore put it (during a similarly life-threatening and painful health crisis), “First I thought I might die—and then I was afraid that I *wouldn’t*!” Bruce had reached that point as well (he also had Lymphedema, which made his cancer treatment more difficult and added to his misery—plus, he’d quickly lost about 30 pounds and had to walk around “sprouting” tubing, in great pain); he was far more concerned with how his wife and family would be able to carry on—financially, keeping their home, etc.—after his departure. I can say from experience—and so could he—that dying is far from the worst thing that one could experience; in some cases, it’s a welcome relief.

Thank you for the link. Bruce certainly put his time here in the Middle World to good use; a triple-major, a Ph.D., and post-doctorate academic work—not to mention his hands-on work in industry and his teaching work, which encouraged many unconfident students to carry on and ultimately succeed—are certainly achievements to admire, and to aspire to!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
I chatted with him about 4 days before he passed.
He had only been home for about a week after his last chemotherapy appointment and my understanding is that he was immuno-comprimised.
He was diagnosed with COVID one day and passed the next.
Thank you for telling me—and all other YORF members, plus the visitors to this forum—about Bruce’s last days, GH. He’d told me that the chemotherapy, plus the Lymphedema and the fluid and weight losses, had taken a lot out of him. Given all of his maladies, I’m not surprised that the COVID virus was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” and so quickly. Also:

(If any of you contract it, or even the “regular” flu, sleeping sitting up in a recliner chair or recliner couch—or at least with the upper body elevated, in a hospital-type tilt-able-mattress bed—will prevent, or at least greatly reduce, pneumonia, which is the “killing mode” [for many people] of these viruses. I *have* to sleep sitting up in a recliner chair, due to having Ankylosing Spondylitis [AS, a spine-fusing disease; it either bends your body forward, into a letter “C”—that’s my ‘new profile’—or it fuses your spine as straight as a rod [the father of an English friend of mine had AS, and he looked like one of the bolt-upright Buckingham Palace guards...24/7/365!] But I noticed that whenever I had a cold or flu--^after^ having to sleep upright—the symptoms went away much more quickly, in just three days or so, and I never had pneumonia again!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by astronwolf
His last post was made a week before he died.
I saw that today, after looking up all of his posts on his YORF profile page, and pulling up all of his e-mail messages to me.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
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  #6  
Old 07-24-2020, 08:43 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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I have another question--for the three of you, and anyone else here--about Bruce:

Do any of you (or other YORF members) know Bruce Levison's wife and children? I ask for the following reason, which could lead to a "Win, Win" situation for his family, and for our hobby (and it would also make a fine, ^living memorial^ to Bruce). I would like to pass the following along to them:

He made numerous 3D printed model rocket nose cones and body tube connectors (including transition frustum sections) for me. These ranged from the tiny, simulated strap-on booster nose cones and rocket nozzles for the T5 (5 mm outside diameter) booster tubes that came in the Taurus-1 MPC Miniroc kit (these simulated booster parts came in the MPC/AVI/early Quest plastic detail parts set) to the Centuri Phoenix Bird nose one and ST-13 (BT-56) plastic tubing connector (he also 3D printed the transition frustum section, the Phoenix Bird-type nose cone and tubing connector, and the large elliptical nose cone for the Enerjet 1340 and 1340/20 sounding rockets [their "ST-13" body tubes were thicker-walled, but had the same outside diameter; Bruce sized mine to fit ST-13/BT-56]), and:

In between ("size-wise"), he also 3D printed for me the 5:1 tangent ogive and elliptical nose cones for T15 (15 mm outside diameter tubing, used in all of the MPC Miniroc kits), Centuri PNC-70 nose cones (the one used in Centuri's Lil' Herc II kit, and--along with the rounded-tip conical BT-51 from the X-24 "Bug" kit--also in the Centuri Argus "KWIK-KIT"). He also made a BT-50 size Pegasus XL (the winged, air-dropped satellite launch vehicle) scale nose cone, and 1/72 scale, 3D printed 20", 30", and 48" diameter Marquardt wingtip-mounted subsonic ramjet engines, which were flight-tested (all except the 48" ones) on P-51 Mustang and F-80 Shooting Star fighter planes. ALSO:

Bruce was a talented 3D printed parts designer; he had a great artist's eye--combined with an engineer's ability to envision objects in three dimensions--which enabled him to create files (and print them) for objects that used a minimum of plastic while being quite strong (he envisioned the load-paths that enabled the parts to be light yet strong). Plus:

The two-part nose cones--such as the PNC-70 ones--that he 3D printed for me (they're nose cones with glue-on bases having the "3D printed-in" tie "loop" [I don't know what its technical name is], to which the shock cord and the parachute [or the short streamer line] are tied) are just like the injection-molded Estes BT-5 and BT-20 plastic nose cones. Each has a small, separately-3D printed flat base--with the "3D printed-in" tie "loop"--that's glued into & onto the "3D printed-in shoulder" of the nose cone. The base fits like a glove! NOW:

I had bought these 3D printed model rocket parts (and the "after-market" plastic model scale customizing parts [the 1/72 scale Marquardt P-51 and F-80 experimental wingtip ramjets]) from Bruce, and I had helped him--via our e-mail discussions--to work toward a "cottage business" of 3D printing these and other parts, for model rocket companies (especially the smaller ones) as well as for individual space modelers (this was before his health took a turn for the worst, of course). This could still be done, in a way that would help his family, other model rocket companies, and us:

If Bruce's wife and/or children would be interested (and also did 3D printing using his extensive set of equipment for that [he'd e-mailed me photographs of his big basement workshop and 3D printing set-up; it was quite impressive!]), they could generate a significant stream of income by 3D printing parts for model rocket manufacturers (and companies needing other 3D printed items), classic kit cloners, scale space modelers, and plastic modelers (and small manufacturers of unusual or rare plastic kit scale subjects), and:

They could also 3D print parts for R/C, C/L (and U/C), and F/F model manufacturers, and for individual modelers (aileron/elevon, elevator, and rudder bellcranks and hinges for Radio-Control model airplanes and gliders, electric motor mounts, push-rod guide tubes and channels, Control-Line [and U-Control] model airplane "swingles" [that's not their technical name], DT--dethermalizer--fuse tubes [3D printed thin metal] for Free-Flight model planes and gliders [including boost-gliders], Jetex/Rapier scale jet exhaust duct tubes [3D printed thin metal], and wing mounts with "built-in dihedral" [for balsa hand-launched and catapult-launched F/F gliders--Sky's Condor boost-glider <see: https://www.apogeerockets.com/Rocke...or-Boost-Glider & http://www.unclemikesrocketshack.com/Sky_Rockets.html > has these, too], etc.).

I hope this information will be helpful.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
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  #7  
Old 07-27-2020, 05:54 PM
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Ez2cDave Ez2cDave is offline
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I thought a photo of Bruce might be appropriate.

Dave F.
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  #8  
Old 07-27-2020, 09:39 PM
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ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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Dave-
Thanks for posting the photo of Bruce.
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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL
, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !

Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !
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  #9  
Old 07-29-2020, 02:35 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Thank you, Dave--all I ever saw was Bruce's pictures of his basement workshop.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
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