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Post by Twoddle on Jun 20, 2019 18:53:29 GMT
My friends, I'm sorry to have to give you the worst news about Tone. He had a stroke about three weeks ago, went downhill from then, and died last Friday (14th June). I've only just learnt of his death.
I never met him, and I spoke to him no more than about a dozen times on the 'phone, but I feel I've lost a good pal.
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Post by Dave Miller on Jun 20, 2019 20:56:11 GMT
I’m saddened to hear that. It’s been some time since Tone was a regular here, but I did enjoy his comments and views here and on the original APS. Was it not he who started, and monitored, the search for the perfect synonym? (Which we never found.) A man with views, who could express them. May he rest well.
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 20, 2019 22:42:22 GMT
Twod: Thank you for the sad news of Tone.
He was one of our quirkier posters who could always come up with a word challenge or three. We enjoyed some private correspondence over the years, and I treasure the book he sent me a long time ago – a pocket-size 31st edition (1938) of Hart's Rules.
I hope Tone didn't suffer unbearably and that his dying was gentle. I tip a (rare) glass to Photomultiplier Man.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 20, 2019 23:38:34 GMT
I was saddened to hear the news about Tone. Thank you, Twoddle, for letting us know. I never exchanged personal messages with him but I hope that his recent life was at least been comfortable. I have missed his contributions to this forum, especially in regard to the search for perfect synonyms, something which I particularly valued and which had fascinated me since I was introduced to it at school more than sixty years ago.
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 21, 2019 8:18:35 GMT
I didn't want to reveal too much in an open forum while Tone was alive, but his health, both physical and mental, had been deteriorating for several years since he'd had a series of strokes. He'd had to give up driving and used to get around on a mobility scooter, but after heart-failure problems that semi-paralysed his legs, it became obvious that he was also suffering from slowly increasing dementia. After a while he could no longer use a computer or understand properly how to work his mobile 'phone, and following a spell in hospital he took up residence in a nursing home where, Tone still being his cantankerous old self, he complained about the food, the staff and his fellow residents; however, even though he wouldn't have admitted it, he was happy, comfortable and well cared-for there.
Within the past few months Tone become unable to move about, even with his walking frame, and stopped charging or using his 'phone, so I had to glean what information I could from his former neighbour, who was the best sort of neighbour anyone could want, taking Tone's mail to him each day, feeding his cats, and looking after his house. Tone had no close relatives, and in the past year or so seems to have severed all contact with his step-family, so the aforementioned neighbour is organising the funeral.
In 2004 I posted my initial message to the Apostrophe Protection Society forum; Paul replied first, followed swiftly by Tone. Time's winged arrow, eh?
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Post by Trevor on Jun 24, 2019 16:54:32 GMT
Sad news indeed, Twod. Thank you for passing it on.
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