News from Stein's widow

[selector]

I received an email from Stein's widow this afternoon.  Was greatly pleased to hear from her.  For those of you who don't know, Stein was a highly respected and knowledgeable member from Norway, with N. American connections, whose impact on this forum was considerable.  He had an untimely and sad passing that was very sudden for such a young family man in October of 2012.  I will let Lora's comments speak for themselves, as follows:

Hi, Crandell --

I'm afraid that the demands of coping with Stein's loss kept me from
replying to your kind e-mail and kind comments on the forum.

In October we passed the one-year mark.  It was a year with many firsts -
first Christmas without Stein, first summer vacation without Stein,
etc.  The year generally went okay, but it hasn't been easy and I miss him
more each day.

A couple people on the Model Railroader forum commented that they had
gotten private messages from Stein that made them laugh all day.  It would
be fun to see an example, although maybe it's railroad humor that I
wouldn't understand.  I don't know if you can get a message to them or not
(..names of two forumites...).

People on the forum naturally wondered how he died.  It happened suddenly
in the night, and the symptoms point to a blood clot in the lung.  There
was no autopsy.  He had had a tough time that fall, with problems in both
legs - gout, injury and infection in a series of combinations.  He'd get a
little better, than worse again.  For a few days, he even needed a
wheelchair, So much inactivity, combined with a knee injury, probably
created the conditions for the blood clot.

That fall he did a lot of working from home, either sitting  or lying down
in bed.   The weekend he died, he actually seemed better.  He had been to
work on Friday for the first time in a couple weeks (though his co-workers
thought he should have stayed home).  He was also pottering around outside
on the porch that weekend.  So it came as a shock when he called out for me
in the middle of the night.  I was able to talk to him for awhile before he
collapsed waiting for the ambulance.  The neighbor and I tried CPR but to
no avail.

Feel free to share this on the forum if you'd like, and thank everyone for
their messages of sympathy back in 2012.

Yours
Lora Rypern

[end of text]

-Crandell

["JaBear"]

Gidday Crandell, thanks for the post. It may sound rather selfish but I regret that Stein is not here to critique the track plan I am working on.                                                              

Please pass on my kindest regards when you are next communicating with his widow.

Cheers, Craig the Bear.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Crandell: Thanks for sharing the email. I fondly recall Stein's posts and miss him. Condolances to Lora. 

[Motley]

Thanks for posting this Crandell. I was always wondering how he died, wow his wife was there with him at least, and at least he didn't suffer long.

I miss his presence here. Maybe someone can search for some of his posts and Crandell can email them to his wife?

[BRAKIE]

 Stein and I had a great discussion on ISL planning on another forum..He designed several great ISLs and I" borrow" one of his plans for a short lived switching layout back in '07.

[faraway]

Thanks for posting and letting us know. I am still missing him.

[Anonymous]

Crandell - thanks for sharing this with us.

Stein was a great man, always helpful, but sometimes with strong words. I had the joy of exchanging many a message with him and his passing means a great personal loss for all of us.

I miss him.

R.I.P., Stein!

[richhotrain]

Stein will always be missed by all of us who knew him.

He was a talented model railroader and a very good judge of people.

Stein had a great sense of humor and just a lot of fun to talk with, both on the forum and in PMs.

Rich

[Phoebe Vet]

Some people, when they are gone, leave a hole in the lives they touched far greater than they themselves would have imagined.  The pain will pass, but the sense of loss will not.

A person who is remembered is not truely gone.  Remember him always.

[BATMAN]

Motley

Maybe someone can search for some of his posts and Crandell can email them to his wife?

Here is one showing his funnier side.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/208707/2284960.aspx#2284960

I have looked for one that still has me laughing every time I think about it. We use to just shoot one liners at each other about exchanges going on in the forum. He had a very quick wit.