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This morning I got a call from a friend. He said, "Did you hear that Don Henry Brown has passed away?" I said, "No, but I have been meaning to call him to let him know that I have not forgotten him."

So a bit later I gave a call and got his wife, and sure enough Don Henry has passed on at 80. He was a man that I met at the end of 2004, as I gave him an order for a Custom Gibbs style English 1000 yard Percussion Target rifle. Over the next 4 years I would give him a calll to see the progress on my rifle and tell him that I was in no hurry as I was buying spoons like a mad dog or an Englishman. Don would always be gracious as he had more work than what he knew what to do with. Don Henry has built and sold parts kits for his rifles around the world.

The upshot is that I got to know Don fairly well, he was a man that truly didn't have a mean bone in his body and would spend an hour or 2 just talking on the phone. Don told me that as a boy he liked to draw and I figured that his rifle making was just a continuation of his artisitc talent. He took great care in his rifles, and it showed in the finished product.

Somewhere along the line I got the feeling that the project of building this rifle would be his swan song. That it kept him going, he had told me that this probably would be his last custom rifle as he didn't have the energy anymore. Finally early last summer Don told me that we had better finish it up. I agreed with him. Ironically at the very same time as he finsihed my rifle in September he had a blood clot in his leg and wound up in the hospital for several weeks with several more in a rehab joint. The last time I talked to him was in December and he was feeling better and starting to work in his shop again.

His wife told me that after the blood clot in the leg it was one problem after another and finally he wound up in the hospital again and on February 22, 2009 my friend passed away. I will miss his happy voice saying, "How are you TABS."