Monday, January 1, 2001
Although I have not seen Bev since I was rather ceremoniously dumped by Audionics in 1979 or '80, I've had the fondest memories of her. I should have kept in touch better, even though I never have have been much of a drinker and I have finally quit smoking. We still could have partied, because Bev was almost always more fun than the proverbial barrel of monkeys. And I do recall that she would head down to Reno on occasion. I have long admired the belt she found somewhere in Nevada, I believe. It was made of Morgan Silver Dollars linked together--and there were far too many for her slender waist. I suppose she could have retired on that belt alone. As far as her work at Audionics was concerned, she needed the belt. The company folded about a year after I departed, and there was no retirement there. That's a shame, because if Audionics had lasted, Bev had earned some sort of serious thanks for service way beyond anything one could expect. Bev had a title at Audionics like Lead Production person or something like that, but she was, in fact, essentially our Production Manager. Had she taken a management title--"exempt" in workers comp lingo, it would have meant a significant cut in pay. Audionics had three partners--Charlie Woods, who started the company, Cliff Moulton, who put in the big bucks, and I, who had left my own markwting firm to join Charlie, my friend. Cliff took no salary, and Charlie and I took home less than any of our important employees. Bev was right at the top of that list with two or three others. She and Cliff had known one another for years, since their time together at Audionics. Anyway, Bev kept things hummings as well as possible on the production line. I say "as well as possible" advisedly, because there was always one disaster or another in play, all having to do with our continual lack of money or Charlie's and Cliff's penchant for making major product changes, always requiring, in their minds at least, immediate re-building of anything in production at the moment. But most of all, Bev took upon herself the odious task of working with our vendors-- "odious" because we were always behind in our payments to them, and Bev had to rely on her personal friendships with our vendors to wheedle anything out of them. She was absolutely the best! As you can gather, it was crisis management by crisis! Sometimes we just gathered at breaktime and had some good laffs about how ridiculous it was that we were in such bad and persevered through it--all of us. We would have thrown in the towel except that we had some worderfully loyal emplyees and some great products that had received critical acclaim around the world. The problem was the Japanese ate our lunch competitively. We had no chance. At one point we lost our office manager, who took a real, paying job somewhere, and in came Cyndi, Bev's daughter. Cyndi and her husband own the Tillicum bar not too far away, but Cyndi had some free time and she wanted to help out her Mom. You who know Cyndi know that she shares with Bev a keen mind and a vivacious personality with a great smile. Cyndi was not smoking when I knew her, but I have no doubt--zero, nada--that she ably helped her mom fill those spare hours with--what was it?--drinking, gambling!, and just all-around partying. It was about the time Cyndi joined our crew that Charlie and Cliff took off on some major new products, turning our production upside down and sucking up all of cash. I got the boot about midway through this mayhem when I suggested that just maybe they might be nuts. I recall that Bev and Cyndi stayed on 'til the bitter end, but I may be wrong about that. (Actually, I dropped out of their sight, because to talk with me would have called their loyalty to Audionics into question.) Nonetheless, Audionics eventually failed, and it was a shame, because Bev and a few others had worked incredibly hard to make it succeed. Anyway, as I write this, I regret so much that I failed to stay in touch with Bev. She was always more "mother hen" and friend to me than employee, and she was one of the greatest pals I've ever enjoyed. I'm glad to know that despite losing two husbands, she leaves behind a large and loving family. I know that Kris Schatz and Steve Kennedy in particular among her workmates at Audionics will be saddened to learn of her passing, but I'll try to see that we have a wee taste in tribute to her. She would have liked that. Gene Still April 3, 2010
