The Passing of A Dear Friend and Sportsman
I was shocked when I recently learned of the passing of a dear friend, mentor and great sportsman, Robert W. Mitchell, Sr. Bob has been a resident of Goffstown for the past 17 years and lived not far from me with his longtime partner, Joan Fuller. I attended his wake on December 29th at French and Rising Funeral Home and had the pleasure of meeting his various family members, including his son, Robert W. Mitchell, Jr. of Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Robert W. Mitchell,
Sr.
I met Bob many, years ago through the Manchester Fly-Fishers Association, where he gave occasional lectures and fly-tying demonstrations. He was an avid fly-fisher and excellent fly-tier who had formed his own business, the Ipswich River Mayfly Company. He tied flies commercially and was also a fly-fishing instructor who was very passionate in the sport of fly-fishing. Bob was an active instructor in the
N.H. Fish and Game Department’s Let’s Go Fishing Program. He also gave lectures on fishing and fly-tying at various sportsmen shows and sporting clubs around New England. Bob, was also a past president of the Coastal Conservation Association for the state of New Hampshire.
A profound outdoor writer, Bob inspired the interest of thousands of readers around New England. He was Senior Editor for Fly Fishing New England Magazine as well as a monthly columnist for Hawkeye Magazine, of Milford, New Hampshire. Bob was also an Active Member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, Inc., this country’s oldest regional outdoor writers group.
Although he was an avid saltwater angler, I enjoyed fly-fishing inland waters with him, one being the Piscataquog River in Goffstown and a couple of streams in Vermont. But, Bob was also a thinker and a true believer in the values of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. One day, a couple months prior to his passing, Bob and I were enjoying breakfast at McDonald’s Restaurant in
Pinardville. We were discussing how society has changed so much from the good old days that we were brought up in. It was a subject that really got his goat. When he got home, he wrote a piece entitled, I Used To Live In A Country. It hit’s the nail on the head so much that I put it to clipart for him and would like to share it with all our readers.
I am only one of the many who will miss him. God bless you and your family Bob. May the fly-fishing in heaven’s waters be as wonderful as it is in the waters here on earth. Rest in peace my friend.
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I Used To Live In A Country
by
Robert W. Mitchell, Sr. |
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I used to live in a country where hard work, dedication, loyalty and honesty were the keys to success. If practiced, they would assure you a degree of pride in your accomplishments, both socially and spiritually.
I used to live in a country where a woman was respected because she was a woman and deserved proper deference for that fact alone.
I used to live in a country where the difference between men and women were celebrated as complimentary and not adversarial.
I used to live in a country where having a child was cause for joy and celebration, not the anguish of whether or not to abort it. I used to live in a country where if such an event took place without the benefit of the traditional two parent family being available, the family that was available would take the child, love it, raise it and cherish it as their own. That’s not a supposition, I lived it.
I used to live in a country where everyone who watched the flag pass by on the Fourth of July swelled with pride and saluted it.
I used to live in a country where burning the flag was unthinkable, until our Congress and Supreme Court said it was ok.
I used to live in a country where our military was held in the highest esteem and where families with sons and daughters, who made the ultimate sacrifice, would be comforted by their fellow countrymen.
I used to live in a country that spawned new ideas on a daily basis, spurred on by the knowledge that one of those just might be the next huge step into the future, with the knowledge that the fruit of ones labor was their own and not the property of others.
I used to live in a country where being a Congressman or Senator was a position of the highest order, not one held in scorn by 91% of the American people.
I used to live in a country where the indictment of a public official was treated with shock, not by resignation.
I used to live in a country where, in times of war, all the countries leaders would forget differences and support the efforts that our servicemen and women were fighting for, not vocally cheer for defeat of our own troops for political advantage.
I used to live in a country that I was sure my children and grandchildren would be proud to live in. I fear I will not live to see that country again.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Bob Harris can be
reached via e-mail at:
outwriter2@aol.com
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expressed by Mr. Harris are not necessarily those of the
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