Joe and Don, Don and Joe

My weekend saw the dreaded words 'In Memoriam' on the subject line of an e-mail. I soon learned that my week would begin with another such letter. Two good curling friends, Joe Livermore and Don Warthman, have passed away.

Joe is the reason I curl; I've said as much before, here and other places. One of the medals on my curling hat I won with Joe as my skip.Truth is, Joe won it and I was fortunate enough to be his novice lead that particular season. He was a true curler, who loved the game and always promoted it. Every time he saw me in recent years her always asked, "You still curling?" He liked telling folks how I grew up near the Detroit Curling Club when it was downtown, which it was until I was 19. I wish I knew Joe then, but I am very glad to have known him at all.

Don was always welcoming whenever I found him at the DCC. He was a guy you joke and laugh with; I called him the Donald well before that other Donald claimed the nickname. I used to tease that his hair looked like a helmet, every strand locked in place. He took that in stride. I still laugh at the time a group of us were leaving the curling club during high winds. I didn't realize Don was behind us. But when he stepped out into the stiff breeze he yelped, "Ow! My hair!" loud enough for me to hear. You gotta like a guy like that.

In a more serious moment at the Club he told me, after I'd been curling somewhere else for a while, "Marty, you're always welcome here. You come back when you're ready." Without going into a lot of unnecessary background, his telling me that, his personal support of my choices, well, it did and always will mean a lot to me. It was exactly the kind of thing a true friend would say.

One thing I will not say about either man was that the curling world suffered losses this weekend. They had lives outside the rink; I think it better to leave it as, the world lost two great men. And I will miss them.