Hi Gang:
First off, thanks to Jean for posting this sad, sad news.
It hit Hedy and me like a ton of bricks this morning and really put a
damper on our day.
We met Skip on a number of occasions many years ago when we were just
starting on our video poker journey and were struck immediately, like everybody
else, by his wonderful wit and easy going manner. He truly was in the
forefront of the new wave of experts educating the masses on the possibilities
of becoming enlightened video poker players and we owe much to people like
him and Jean for allowing us to live the exciting lifestyle we enjoy to this
day.
We particularly remember him at Skip Hughes Group get-togethers at the
Hard Rock and New York, New York, where we connected with people such as Jim
Tsalikis, Art Schmidt, Pat Nashick, Pete Remaley, Lolly Fegley, Jean and Brad
Scott, Hank Adams, Linda B. (Misscraps) and so many others that we
continue to be friendly with today.
I always thought that we were original members of the SHG but seeing the
list of the "original 20" on this board I guess we weren't, but I'm sure we
joined up in the group's infancy.
We will always fondly remember our conversations with Skip and raise a
toast to his memory this weekend at Harrah's in AC because there is no better
place to do that than in a casino.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Marie and his family and we wish them
only the best as they go forward in life with what must be wonderful
memories of a wonderful man.
Rest in peace, our friend.
Regards,
CoachVee & Hedy
In a message dated 3/18/2010 1:45:42 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
vpFREE@yahoogroups.com writes:
Skip's wife, Marie, called me yesterday to tell me he had died on
Saturday.
We had known that he had been struggling with cancer of the esophagus for
some time - and he had posted to the VP forums quite a few months ago
about
this struggle during chemo. But as his usual self, he was optimistic
about
the outcome and still displayed his wonderfully quirky sense of humor!
Marie said he finally had surgery and seemed to be making a good recovery.
After a planned short stay in rehab they were looking forward to his
coming
home. But as so often happens in rehab, he contracted one of those killer
bug infections and that fairly quickly took his life.
Marie is not very computer savvy and didn't know how to contact any of us
in
the VP community. She finally found my phone number in some of Skip's
paperwork. I told her I would see that this sad news would be posted
since
so many of his long-time friends had been wondering about him.
I know that many of you will want to send Marie your condolences.
However,
I can not give you a snail-mail address since she in the midst of moving
from Carson City (where they had settled when Skip started a new job there
just before he got sick) back to Las Vegas.
However, the vpFREE administrator has said he would collect all
condolence posts and private messages and put them on a
memorial page, which he'll link to Skip's entry on the vpFREE
Hall of Fame page. Then when Marie gets settled here in Las Vegas, I will
see that she has help in accessing that memorial page.
When I have more details, I will share them with you all.
···
________________
Jean $¢ott, Frugal Gambler
http://queenofcomps.com/
You can read my blog at
http://jscott.lvablog.com/
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