[Jeff Higgins]

We are all just in shock, completely devastated by our loss. Chuck was a brother to me, as he was to everyone else in the club. This was just a bolt out of the blue. I spent the day with him at Streets of Willow for our annual "Sports Purpose Day", like I always do when at our Treffen. I spent Thursday evening with him in the hotel parking lot in Buellton, again like I pretty much always do. We all got up on Friday morning for a couple of scenic drives that some members had planned, and he seemed just fine at breakfast. I never participate in these drives, since I spend so much time on the road getting there and back in the first place. I saw everyone off that morning, telling them all to "have fun", again like I pretty much always do.

Then the phone calls started coming in, phone calls from our members who were with Chuck. Right away it didn't sound good. I was in disbelief. Denial. One of the best drivers in the club had just suffered a very serious accident out on the road. Then, after several hours, "that" phone call came in. Just a punch in the guts like few I have ever felt before. My brother Chuck was gone.

Chuck suffered a heart attack and may very well have been dead before the first impact. Two of our members, both EMT, attended to him before the ambulance got there. They told me they "got his heart back", but he was unresponsive. From what I understand, he never regained consciousness.

I cannot overstate the personal blow the loss of Chuck means to me, nor the blow it means to our club as a whole. One of the most personable, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable members of our club and the community as a whole.

RIP old buddy.