I received sad news a couple of
days ago that my good friend Fred Sill passed away on December 18,
2019. Although I never met Fred in person, we had many good
discussions about Canal Zone history. He contributed many things
on the CZ Images website including the old late 1930 film of Canal
operations. The best part of our discussions was the things that
Fred knew. He was the son of Canal Construction Engineer and had
lots of stories his Dad told him like this one:
"My dad was about to become one of the members
who resigned when the canal opened. When Goethals asked him,
soon after the inauguration, what his plans were, he said "To
return to upstate New York to continue my work as a civil
engineer". Goethals said "Stick around! Now's when the fun
begins!".
Fred had a slew of stories
of his own. He filled in so many blanks of information that I
was needing for this and that. Just like when my old friend Nina
Brown passed I have a hollow spot in my life with yet another friend
gone. Thanks for all the discussions and being my friend
Fred. Rest in Peace. The
photo above was taken at the Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá
in 2015 when Fred donated the items showing on the table to the
museum.
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