I have known Neill since Sept.1975 when he hired me to work in the marketing dept of Foremost Industries, he was the Sales Manager at the time. Over the years I worked with Neill at a number of different companies and he was really the only “boss” I have ever known. We became friends and ultimately Neill was the primary influencer of my adult life, aside from my wife.

We went on countless adventures together, everything from looking for dinosaur bones, lost golf balls, fishing, sea kayaking to 4wd trips in Utah. And although there was never a consensus on the political life of the day, he was great companion. Many memorable hours were spent travelling in the car, boat or sitting around the campfire.

Neill purchased a folding sea kayak and we decided to take it out the islands west of Bella Bella for a 10 day trip, this entailed driving to Bell Coola, renting a Beaver sea plane and flying to Bella Bella. Where we assembled the kayak, stuffed the thing to the gills and paddled off for our 10 day trip. I think over the course of our 10 days we saw a total of 3 fishing boats at a distance but no other people so it was remote.

On the morning of the second day I saw Neill walking down the beach back to camp with something that looking like a wet white football in his hand, and I asked what’s that? He said that he had dropped our one roll of toilet paper in the water as he was tending to his morning ablutions. Neill’s comment was “it will dry out”. He never failed to remind me over the years of the utter look of horror on my face as the impact of what he was saying struck home. 

A couple of days later in the trip he managed to redeem himself. We had paddled into a bay, beached the kayak and as we always did, set off to have a look around. When we returned to the beach the boat was gone, the tide had floated it well out into the bay. If it had fallen to me, we might still be there, but Neill sprinted down the beach, dove into the water and retrieved the departing kayak. He was a great swimmer and a man of action, he will be missed.

Neill is my grandfather and I remember as a child he had taken my brother and I to the badlands with our parents to go dinosaur bone hunting. My brother and I always thought it was so cool that he had these tiny bones of ancient creatures that he had found. He was such a cool guy, always wanting to explore, travel, and knew so much about different countries and their cultures. He and my grandmother had so many amazing collections of artifacts and souvenirs at their home, that their house was almost like a travel museum. He was an active man, still playing lighter sports and going for bike rides into his late eighties. He knew a lot about business, and when I was older and a business student myself, I realized just how knowledgeable he is in the subject and how well he understood economics and marketing. As a funny thing, he absolutely loved Carl’s Jr. and to this day every time I pass one I think of him.

Though from the outside we were pretty opposite, sometimes debating things we did not agree on, after his passing I have come to realize just how alike we were. We were both passionate about business, were big on debating and arguing (which, sometimes would happen in the living room), both have a taste for adventure and travel, love the water and the beach and love the family. And sometimes, we’re both sore losers at sports or board games (especially pickle ball or monopoly).

His passing has shown me how much life there is to live, and how it is possible to live all of it. To go and see the world and meet so many different people and learn about everything.

I hope to be like him and live a life of adventure, and hopefully he even half as knowledgeable about the world as he was.
I love you, Grandpa.

What a man! Neill was the first person to get a grad school degree in Geology from UCR, I was the second. We became fierce opponents on the tennis court in grad school and friends off the court. Neill got me a summer job as junior geologist at Riverside Cement and, after grad school a full time job with American Cement. We worked and traveled together together for many years. I remember well Neill and Gretchen's wedding and often, over half a century would think how lucky Neill was to have Gretchen as a wife. Gretchen is a tough, patient, loving woman and had to be, for Neill was always a bundle of energy and action.
Neill was the most charming person I have ever known, I think because he was so passionate, smart and well-spoken. In his later years I often regretted that we did not live closer together, people like Neill are so rare. Smart, kind, always living a life of action-what a guy. My condolences to Gretchen and the kids. I'll soon be seeing Neill Down Below for, to quote Mark Twain: "Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company".
Ron Gibson