I met Dools shortly after my wife died when I was looking for a captain to replace my wife on our tour boat. Our mutual friend Ron put us together. One afternoon we sat on the deck of my business, and we started to talk. I had had two unsuccessful captains before that that lasted about a month each. I knew after a few minutes that it was going to work out we spent the next 4 hours talking about Wisconsin, boating, sailing flying private planes, dressage horses, failed marriages, our very different early business careers, and then owning our own businesses. We also talked about our mutual love of the river, its history, the wildlife and plants. He started the next day.
Over the more than five years we spent many hours sitting on the deck at work reminiscing about our lives, wives and businesses. Over time the business grew in both the quality and people. Our mutual point of honor is when after 3 years together we were awarded by Trip Advisor a Certificate of being one of the top 10% of all attractions worldwide. Very recently the Canadian Google Travel Committee awarded us their top Award for the quality of our tour. Dooley was delighted as was I. His goal was to obtain the designation of being one of the top 1% worldwide. Unfortunately, I became ill for the past 2 years and he took over running the business without even being asked. Last year I spent 145 days in the hospital and rehab facility and the prior year there were shorter stays but accumulated to 75 days and a lot of healing at home. I think we could have made the top one percent had I not been Ill. He always said in describing us that I was Johnny Carson, and he was Ed McMann. Being an old guy often times on tour I would loose the name of a bird, plant or animal and he would fill it in without a moments delay. We would breakup the tour into modules and only talk about the things we would see on tour. His knowledge was so varied and deep that even if I did what I knew he would add his knowledge and our guests would routinely say I have lived on the river the past 30 years and learned more today than I ever knew. WE loved what we did, and it will not be duplicated without him. One of his idiosyncratic qualities was that he had such a wide and varied vocabulary that we would sit on the deck and in casual conversation he would correct my lack correct word usage. Little things that I will miss was our almost daily telephone conversations that we would have in the evening after we had enjoyed an adult beverage or two. Bill was a man of great loyalty, responsibility to me and a man of principals. He died doing what he loved on the river on the Naiad at Highbanks Marina.
There is a 187-word poem called The Dash that I feel is fitting and I would like to share.
The Dash
I read of a man who stood to speak at a funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning…to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears but said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars…the house…the cash. What matters is how we lived and loved and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.
To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile…remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?
Linda Ellis
Dooley
I’ll miss you.
Doug Little