Hi all,  I'm sorry to report that a friend of mine, Doug Mussell,
of Santa Maria, California, passed away in June of 2007.

I met Doug about 20 years ago when my family moved to Santa Maria and
I visited him several times before his first wife passed away.  A few
years after that he retired from the printing business and converted
his shop to a museum to display his large collection -- all free of
charge to anyone who wanted to visit.

Around five years ago, when I went to visit him (during my annual visit
to my parents), he told me that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease.  The following year when I visited him (and each subsequent
year as well) I had to re-introduce myself but he was delighted that
a collector would come to visit with him, and we had a great time
discussing techniques and restoration, my projects and his.

After a couple of years I noticed that each year his projects were the
same -- that he hadn't made any progress in his restorations, but he
was intent on doing them to keep his sanity (and when I met with him he
was generally lucid).

Last year I was unable to make my regular trip due to a death in the
family so I didn't look him up, and this year I learned that he had
passed, and that his widow had sold his entire collection.  (No one
knew who bought it but that someone had and planned to restore the
instruments).

Eli Shahar

 [ At http://www.santamariaelks.com/elkshorn/horn/elkshorn0707.pdf 
 [ bulletin of Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, Lodge #1538,
 [ In Memoriam:
 [   Douglas Mussell
 [   Born: September 30, 1937
 [   Initiated: June 22, 1961
 [   Died: June 5, 2007
 [ -- Robbie