RIP George Creed, iModeler contributor

Just got word this morning from a good friend that George Creed died Tuesday. Cause unknown at this time. I really don't like news of young whippersnappers who aren't as old as I am shuffling off prematurely like this.

It would take a very churlish person to not say that George was pretty much single-handed in saving the Southern California modeling community over the past 31 years since his first Pasadena Model Show. By 1988, when he decided to do that, the aerospace industry was leaving southern California and taking with it the heart and soul of modeling - all those guys who worked on the real thing who made models. Before then, IPMS Space Park, which met at TRW, had monthly shows that were bigger every month than George's annual show was at its height (not kidding - 400 models on tables, lots of vendors, every meeting bigger than a regional today; that's what we've come down from).

In the beginning, George had more enthusiasm for modeling than skill at the workbench, but along the way the skill came to match the enthusiasm, and it didn't really matter, because it was the enthusiasm that counted. Regardless of how big or small any show was, next year would be better. He came up with putting the show on at the Peterson Automotive Museum and the Reagan Library to attract people when the Pasadena venue didn't cut it any more.

Several years ago, at one of the National IPMS conventions in Phoenix, George got an award for his tireless work to promote the hobby.

This is getting really bothersome this year. I just saw George at Smith Brothers Hobbies last month, and all was well. It's as big a punch as losing Burl Burlingame to the flu in March. I suspect the cause was heart problems, which is surprising when you consider the guy was all heart, no matter the situation or who he was dealing with. His wife preceded him a few years ago, and that may also have been a contributor (there's an old "rule" about long-time spouses dying within 4 years of each other, and this would fit that timing).

Anyway, have fun in the big hobbyshop in the sky, George. Things aren't going to be the same here without your enthusiasm.

(There are those here who may know that, over the years, George and I shared some pretty strong differences of opinion, but the last time we saw each other, it was clear any hatchets had long been thrown out the window - for which I am now very glad. It would be terrible for this to have happened without that being cleared up.)