I just found out that Otis, the owner of the shop that did such a marvelous job painting the T-bird, died a few days ago. Is wife preceded him into the eternal realm just last month.
Otis was an amazing and humble guy, who started this body shop in Southern California just after returning home as a WWII POW. The shop has been around so long, and Otis was such an amiable guy, that it became a local gathering place for metalworking talent to come and just shoot the breeze. I think I got a lot of free work on the T-bird because of this.
Otis was over 90, and got a heart valve replaced while the T-bird was in his shop. He was back in the shop 3 days after surgery... His son Van pointed out that Otis needed to be available to talk to his friends, and that helped his recovery.
From my Uncle's email... "Otis was a decorated hero of WWII, a side gunner on a B24, On a raid of Polisti his plane was shot down and he became a prisoner of war. He was liberated only when the US Army reached his camp. He was tendered a medal, but he turned it down, saying the real hero who deserved the medal was the pilot who got them down safely."
There are some people that make you just want to be more like them!
RIP, Otis. My sincere condolences, Van. The world is a slightly poorer place.
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