A Reflection of Fond Memories of Don The following is an excerpt from an email between Don’s nephew, Jason Stoedter and his mom, Judy on May 5, 2016. Hi Mom I'm very happy that you were able to make it back down to Joan's in her time of need. I’m sure that your presence will be very beneficial in this bleak time. I don't want Joan to be sad because this takes away from the dear times that her and Don shared. Don is no longer trapped in a bed staring at four walls and can’t do anything to maintain himself; and Joan is no longer trapped having to care for someone that has no ability to take care of themself; 24-7. Now, is the time to remember the good things about Don when he was mobile; like how they spoiled us little kids with umpteen “Star Wars” toys; how his art work was so great; how he could build a plastic model and make it look real life; how he could talk about sci-fi and other interesting facts until late into the night. Don changed the person I became today from his artistic view on life. It inspired me to explore the different venues that he viewed as important. To this day, I still like models, comics, sci-fi, cartoons, etc. I’ll always remember going for ice cream with Joan and Don and remembering to choose chocolate cause that was what I knew Don liked and I wanted to be like him. I will never forget sleeping over and poring through all his books on sci-fi and “Conan” and art on their bookshelf after everyone went to bed. Yes Joan, I explored after you all fell asleep. Josh and I used to play when we were little, of Joan and Don coming to visit us in Wiarton; I would take a suitcase that I think holds jars of pennies today and pretend it was Don’s brief case full of his latest drawings to show the family. I was always impressed by Don’s artistic skills and wished I could have developed mine to the same level as his. Unfortunately, that never came about; but, this still sticks with me today ... as yet again, I purchased a bunch of digital ink pens yesterday in hopes of maybe trying to draw something in the summer again when I’m on holidays. I guess what I’m trying to say is Don enlightened a piece of my creative brain that I didn’t get from anywhere else and that’s how I will always remember him. I’ll never forget the giant picture of the pirate drinking wine; I’ll never forget driving to Toronto to go to hobby shops, and then watching the show, “Dark Crystal”. I will never forget the X-mas party where everybody was fighting and we left and watched “Star Trek”. I will never forget how excited I got hearing you two were coming to visit. I’ll never forget him taking me with him to his model club; I’ll never forget him reading scary stories under candle light in their Oakville apartment. I’ll never forget that you all owned “Gremlin” cars and that Don’s was pale blue. I’ll never forget that Don had the record by “Electric Light Orchestra” that I played over and over. I’ll never forget that he liked his smokes and coke. I’ll never forget that he got up at 3 a.m. to draw. I’ll never forget that he brought a lot of fun times to us little kids. I also know how he would have hated having to draw "Care Bears" when I know he really wanted to draw "Batman" ... well maybe not Batman ... well something more along the likes of what he liked. To this day, I still disagree with him the YF-23 was the more proficient fighter jet than the WF-22, hands down ... but, I guess some US congressman agreed with Don's vision ... boy were they both wrong on that one. Anyways, to this day, I always have a blue pencil ready for sketching. Hi Jason. Thank you Jason for remembering. Don would be smiling right now and Joan is laughing. Joan says she remembers those times well. Don did leave a good impression on you. I remember how you wanted to draw just like him. It's amazing, I hope Don realized that he made such an impact on your life.