Back to Mike Wise

From: "Andrew Golding" <andrew@cam.org>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 23:25:43 -0400
Subject: Mike Wise Remembered - from me
Message-id: <000701bdccb3$6c8c7ac0$829454c7@touch>

Despite how late this must seem to be, I want to share some of my feelings about Mike Wise. Having just taken dictation from Bernard Gotlieb for his tribute, I feel like saying `hear hear', because Bernard's description of Mike's generous character is spot on, but here goes anyway. When I heard about Mike's passing, it filled me with a terrible sadness. Having been by chance somewhat isolated recently from those who knew him, I had not realized just how ill he was. Some of his optimism rubbed off on me, I think. I heard the day before I left to see my father in law, who's fighting his own battle with cancer. It made me feel grateful that I had that chance to see him again, but also regretful that I didn't take that opportunity with Mike. While I didn't really know Mike outside of Scrabble, he had that quality which makes you feel like good friends after just a short time. He was part of my life for about eight years, and with each passing year I would look forward to seeing him again that much more.

He seemed as if he would always be around. His presence was felt so strongly in the Scrabble scene, because he was always working to make things better for others - organizing his annual tournament and the annual Kingston Challenge between Toronto and Montreal, creating the Canadian National Scrabble Championship, directing the World's and the Superstars, directing his club. Whenever I visited his club he made me feel like an honoured guest. I know that none of these things will ever be quite the same without his boyish enthusiasm. I really will miss him, but the exercise of writing about it has changed my mood: I just feel glad to have known him.

-Andrew Golding