Sawman passes, R.I.P.

[Metal Storm]

I only met him once. I was very excited and felt honored to drive to his house to finally meet the man and talk with the legend. Ships Ahoy Matey.

 

[FrankT]

Debbie, Bill's wife called today and let me know Bill's service at Barrancas is Pending William Herman Stark III I am sure there will be further info coming. I am terrible at these things, learning from My Son and Dad , it is truly Ugly as a grown Man, so I will be privately observing Bill's memory.

Will let Daezee post the info.

 

[Daezee]

At 11:31 this morning she texted service details as above post. At 12:55pm she texted me and said "Service will be rescheduled to next week." I've not received any further details. I'm seeing her tomorrow around noonish to give her the $ sold so far and pick up more items.

 

[FrankT]

At 11:31 this morning she texted service details as above post. At 12:55pm she texted me and said "Service will be rescheduled to next week." I've not received any further details. I'm seeing her tomorrow around noonish to give her the $ sold so far and pick up more items.

Thank you Daezee, I knew I should have let you post the info, will correct the above post...

 

[M118LR]

At 11:31 this morning she texted service details as above post. At 12:55pm she texted me and said "Service will be rescheduled to next week." I've not received any further details. I'm seeing her tomorrow around noonish to give her the $ sold so far and pick up more items.

Have we checked into full Military Honors for SAWMAN? They make you ask Nowadays.

 

[dirtingd]

Have we checked into full Military Honors for SAWMAN? They make you ask Nowadays.

What do yal think about a link on here for members who have passed?

 

[BRDN]

I just saw this Post. Sure hated to hear of his passing and the illness. He was the first person I met from the forum. I’ll be praying for his family!!

 

[candipogo]

With great sadness, I make this post. The GCGF's Sawman and my friend, teacher, and hog hunting partner Bill Starke passed last night at 9pm from pancreatic cancer. Bill had told me to keep his cancer confidential except for talking to 2 people about it. I was also to post after his passing, with him telling me I am free to say whatever I want to in my post announcing his death. I know he had several message on his phone of the type "where are you?"...some things he wanted kept personal...that was just Bill...we are all different in our own way.

I met Bill not too long after joining the forum when he had a 2-7x Leupold scope for sale. We met at his home. We got to talking about hunting, my experiences and how I loved going to my brother's Georgia farm every year to deer hunt and how I'd killed a couple of deer on my neighbor's property (with permission) to help feed a needy family. Apparently he liked what he was hearing, as he asked if I had any unmet hunting goals. I said to kill a wild hog, butcher, and eat it. He said there are hogs at his hunting club, and he'd take me hog hunting. That conversation was followed by a week or so in which we discussed and wrote out a set of safety rules for hunting at night. That was followed by daytime orientation at his club. Over the next year we went out 13 times night hunting until I finally got my first hog. OK, now here's how to clean one, preserve the meat, etc, as I did the cutting. Only an eighty pound boar, but it was my trophy! Over the next year or so, I killed 2 more at his club (those 2 were called in with Bill working his hog call). Slowly, over the years, tracking down every hog lead, practicing gentle patience, and befriending property owners, we had permission to hog hunt on 7 properties. We became a well-oiled partnership/machine. 100% trust. We'd take turns at shooting. Success for one person was success for the other. He sorta played the "bad cop" and me the "good cop" in interactions with or about others...we made a good pair and complemented each other. We certainly could and did disagree, but it was never got personal and never interfered with our friendship and trust.

The signs of early pancreatic cancer can be hard to notice so action can be taken early enough to make a difference in outcome. Night time hog hunting often involves walking. I have a leaking aortic heart valve, so my walking, if kept to a mild/moderate pace, is possible to go quite a ways without a break. If I push it, I get to where I just can't go further, so a mild/moderate pace in consultation with my cardiologist and heart surgeon works for me. Bill would have to stop about every 75 or so yards to rest. He decided to get in better shape and lose weight. About that time his appetite began to decrease little, but his goal was to loose weight, so the decrease in appetite was welcome, and the weight was coming off. He was getting his stamina back until the jaundice appeared. The tumor in his pancreas had grown large enough to block the bile duct. The tumor is what had reduced his appetite. Biopsy and tests confirmed the dx.

Last April I was at W. Fl. Hospital for the yearly CT scan of my aortic aneurysm to see if it has increased in size...if/when it gets too big, I have open heart surgery. So I'm sitting in the waiting room across from Bill and his wife. All were masked up for covid. He's looking at me and says Bruce? I didn't recognize him he'd lost so much weight and was so jaundiced. Right there he told me and said who I could only tell. No problem, I kept my promise.

This was followed over the next year with operations, chemo, and radiation, but by the time the cancer was found, he was given a 5% chance of surviving. Treatment shrunk the tumor a little and seemed to stop the spread, but not enough for another operation. We did go hunting a few more times with no walking, with him using his electric buggy when he'd recover from chemo. I was so happy he had some success hunting during this time. In the last hunt, his naked night vision (no lights or thermal) was so poor I had to say you cannot drive your buggy at night with no lights on, I will drive from now on. That was our last hunt as he continued to get weaker and weaker.

Ultimately, he went under home hospice care. A few days ago he went into respite care for a few days to give his wife a short break. He was in respite care when he died last night. He, being a retired Navy Ordnance Chief, will be buried at Barrancas. Any other plans are not firmed up yet. May be a small gathering at his home.

I will be posting and selling some of his things (reloading related, ammo, some shooting related items) on the forum and already brought a car load home. This is per his and Debbie's wishes. I'll set the prices on stuff I'm selling like I did for my other friend's estate, less than retail. I will be discussing pricing with my shooting group this weekend that helped me with pricing before. Powder will be weighed and pro-rated on price. I will be contacting Uber's regarding putting firearms on consignment so his wife doesn't have to deal with strangers in her home. A friend of their family may be buying one firearm. That same friend asked me to look for a particular reloading powder (none of that was there). If a forum member is interested in a particular firearm they remember, let me know, and I may be able to help on an item. Otherwise, I don't want to do firearm selling. I was asked and completed unloading and making safe some handguns Bill had loaded.

Thank you for reading this long post about Sawman. Since everything about Sawman revolved around firearms, I thought general gun talk would be the place to post this, If it is felt it is better moved to another sub forum, please do. I got the phone call last night at 10pm. Even though I knew it was coming at any time, my sleep last night sucked. Bruce

Prayers for Bill's family and friends
I learned a lot from his post here on
GCGF. RIP. BROTHER

 

[Kbud]

I never met him. But I enjoyed his posts on the forum. As someone said earlier - we are now diminished with his absence - this is a great line. Thank you for the update and your words were kind. Rest easy Sawman.

 

[SGT58]

I’m relatively new to the forum and not overly active but I always read what Sawman had to say concerning any post. Like all of us he definitely had an opinion and I appreciated him adding his two cents worth.

I lost my wife to cancer last July. 27 months of hell that ended 41 years of marriage.

My condolences to the family and his friends. R.I.P.

 

[Waterwings]

RIP Sir I’ll miss his comments…

 

[ilintner]

This makes me incredibly sad. Bill was always a challenge to deal with here as an administrator of the forum, and I have an inbox full of PM's to prove it. However, during the many times that I met with him he was nothing but one the kindest, knowledgeable, and helpful people that I had met through this site. RIP Bill, I am certain that you will be sorely missed.

 

[Bearkat]

Just came in from being out in my shop, and this is the first thing I saw, It has hit me very hard, Bill was just here it same's like a couple of weeks ago , I said some think about him he had lost some weight, told him if he lost any more , would have to put some lead bullets in his pockets to hold him down. He had become a good friend , we had talk a lot be for every meet, The first time we meet at his house, He meet me at the door and said I got mine and said I got mine. He was referring to his Glock he had on him, Then we shook hands and had a good laugh. Then sat down on his back porch and a long talk. Was all way willing to help me get my pct. of the from, He said any time I need help call. WII MISS HIM RIP JUST MY 100 CENTS

With great sadness, I make this post. The GCGF's Sawman and my friend, teacher, and hog hunting partner Bill Starke passed last night at 9pm from pancreatic cancer. Bill had told me to keep his cancer confidential except for talking to 2 people about it. I was also to post after his passing, with him telling me I am free to say whatever I want to in my post announcing his death. I know he had several message on his phone of the type "where are you?"...some things he wanted kept personal...that was just Bill...we are all different in our own way.

I met Bill not too long after joining the forum when he had a 2-7x Leupold scope for sale. We met at his home. We got to talking about hunting, my experiences and how I loved going to my brother's Georgia farm every year to deer hunt and how I'd killed a couple of deer on my neighbor's property (with permission) to help feed a needy family. Apparently he liked what he was hearing, as he asked if I had any unmet hunting goals. I said to kill a wild hog, butcher, and eat it. He said there are hogs at his hunting club, and he'd take me hog hunting. That conversation was followed by a week or so in which we discussed and wrote out a set of safety rules for hunting at night. That was followed by daytime orientation at his club. Over the next year we went out 13 times night hunting until I finally got my first hog. OK, now here's how to clean one, preserve the meat, etc, as I did the cutting. Only an eighty pound boar, but it was my trophy! Over the next year or so, I killed 2 more at his club (those 2 were called in with Bill working his hog call). Slowly, over the years, tracking down every hog lead, practicing gentle patience, and befriending property owners, we had permission to hog hunt on 7 properties. We became a well-oiled partnership/machine. 100% trust. We'd take turns at shooting. Success for one person was success for the other. He sorta played the "bad cop" and me the "good cop" in interactions with or about others...we made a good pair and complemented each other. We certainly could and did disagree, but it was never got personal and never interfered with our friendship and trust.

The signs of early pancreatic cancer can be hard to notice so action can be taken early enough to make a difference in outcome. Night time hog hunting often involves walking. I have a leaking aortic heart valve, so my walking, if kept to a mild/moderate pace, is possible to go quite a ways without a break. If I push it, I get to where I just can't go further, so a mild/moderate pace in consultation with my cardiologist and heart surgeon works for me. Bill would have to stop about every 75 or so yards to rest. He decided to get in better shape and lose weight. About that time his appetite began to decrease little, but his goal was to loose weight, so the decrease in appetite was welcome, and the weight was coming off. He was getting his stamina back until the jaundice appeared. The tumor in his pancreas had grown large enough to block the bile duct. The tumor is what had reduced his appetite. Biopsy and tests confirmed the dx.

Last April I was at W. Fl. Hospital for the yearly CT scan of my aortic aneurysm to see if it has increased in size...if/when it gets too big, I have open heart surgery. So I'm sitting in the waiting room across from Bill and his wife. All were masked up for covid. He's looking at me and says Bruce? I didn't recognize him he'd lost so much weight and was so jaundiced. Right there he told me and said who I could only tell. No problem, I kept my promise.

This was followed over the next year with operations, chemo, and radiation, but by the time the cancer was found, he was given a 5% chance of surviving. Treatment shrunk the tumor a little and seemed to stop the spread, but not enough for another operation. We did go hunting a few more times with no walking, with him using his electric buggy when he'd recover from chemo. I was so happy he had some success hunting during this time. In the last hunt, his naked night vision (no lights or thermal) was so poor I had to say you cannot drive your buggy at night with no lights on, I will drive from now on. That was our last hunt as he continued to get weaker and weaker.

Ultimately, he went under home hospice care. A few days ago he went into respite care for a few days to give his wife a short break. He was in respite care when he died last night. He, being a retired Navy Ordnance Chief, will be buried at Barrancas. Any other plans are not firmed up yet. May be a small gathering at his home.

I will be posting and selling some of his things (reloading related, ammo, some shooting related items) on the forum and already brought a car load home. This is per his and Debbie's wishes. I'll set the prices on stuff I'm selling like I did for my other friend's estate, less than retail. I will be discussing pricing with my shooting group this weekend that helped me with pricing before. Powder will be weighed and pro-rated on price. I will be contacting Uber's regarding putting firearms on consignment so his wife doesn't have to deal with strangers in her home. A friend of their family may be buying one firearm. That same friend asked me to look for a particular reloading powder (none of that was there). If a forum member is interested in a particular firearm they remember, let me know, and I may be able to help on an item. Otherwise, I don't want to do firearm selling. I was asked and completed unloading and making safe some handguns Bill had loaded.

Thank you for reading this long post about Sawman. Since everything about Sawman revolved around firearms, I thought general gun talk would be the place to post this, If it is felt it is better moved to another sub forum, please do. I got the phone call last night at 10pm. Even though I knew it was coming at any time, my sleep last night sucked. Bruce

Oneshot introduced me to Sawman and he came to my shop to pick up a Ruger new model Blackhawk in .41 mag. He told me that he hunted with one years ago and wanted another one. It was my pleasure to provide him something that brought him joy. A very nice fella and brother in arms. RIP chief, respectfully, Bear

 

[fl57caveman]

What do yal think about a link on here for members who have passed?

good idea...or a thread; RIP,gone, but not forgotten

 

[suppo]

RIP

 

[USAF Sarge]

Been so wrapped up with the house and mostly MIA from the forum and I check my email and see this.

Damn!

Never met him, but had a few interactions on the forum with him. Great guy and a fellow vet, he left some big shoes that are going to be hard fill......

 

[USAF Sarge]

What do yal think about a link on here for members who have passed?

Along the lines of an "In Memoriam" section. If so, I think it would be a great ideal. As long as this forum is around, that section would be a memorial to our lost members.

 

[RackinRay]

RIP Bill, we have the watch.

 

[JWrecks]

RIP SAWMAN. I haven't been on the forum a long time, but long enough to know SAWMAN was a curmudgeon's curmudgeon. He was a real throw back. I never got to meet him. Always secretly wished that he would have something I would want to purchase so I could see if I was on his do not sell to list. Very disheartening.

 

[JWlineman]

What do yal think about a link on here for members who have passed?

This is a great idea that I'm surprised we don't already have.
Edit* one has been set up in the Off Topic section, feel free to share