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sign of his appreciation for the care
he was receiving there and the
critical role the hospital played in
his tight knit community.
The
next year, though he was very weak
from battling his illness, Roy
ignored his doctor's orders
not to travel, got on a plane and
flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida
to see his many friends at the October
2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East
conference. It was the last time I saw
Roy in person and like a lot of others
who were so happy to see him when we
knew he wasn't well, I wanted to get a
new photo with him (I think I also
hoped whatever it was that made him so
special might rub off on me if I got
close enough)!
Roy
Flanders (right) with Ron
Jackson at the
2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East Conference
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Though
not up to par physically Roy was
clearly energized to be
back among so many friends and
admirers. When our mutual friend, Rob
Grant, relayed the news of Roy's
passing to me tonight Rob said, "I think his friends were more important to him than the business - or
any domains." No doubt,
that was true.
Roy
wasn't one to take anything too
seriously and he openly joked about
his illness and how it was slowing him
down. Shortly after the photo above
was taken at the opening night
cocktail party, noted attorney Ari
Goldberger asked me to take a
photo of him and Roy together. As I
did that, Ari and I were both shocked
to see Roy suddenly fall straight
backwards and hit the hard terrazzo
floor with an audible thud. We were sure
he would be seriously hurt. But when
we bent down to help him up Roy just
laughed about how "clumsy"
he had become, got back to his feet
and dusted himself off. His doctor
would no doubt have had a heart
attack himself if he had seen what
happened, but Roy wasn't phased in the
least, after all the night was
still young! He then proceeded to
join everyone for a late dinner at a restaurant
down the street!
Roy
Flanders and Ari Goldberger, just
before Roy's pratfall.
Some
of Roy's friends started leaving
comments on his
Facebook page tonight. A
common sentiment was expressed by one
of his friends in Nantucket, Briegel
Silva, who wrote, "We all
know that the only thing in life we
can be sure of, is that we are going
to die. We will never be prepared to
lose anyone but we know it will
happen. As much as it sucks and hurts
there is nothing we can do to stop
death. May you rest in peace my pal
Roy Flanders and you will never
be forgotten! Thank you for
being you and for all you have
done for me and my family. And I thank
God today for me having a chance to
tell you exactly what i just said
while you were still with us!"
A
lot of Roy's domain industry friends
didn't get a chance to thank him in
the way they would have liked while he
was here, but I think Roy knew
how much we thought of him and how
much we enjoyed being in his company.
Farewell for now old friend - we will
catch up with you down the line. No
surprise, as always, you're several
steps ahead of us in everything
you do!
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