a now-departed member of the team: Georg Emme. George stumbled into my
life in 2002 when a friend called me and told me "this guy came into the store
and wanted to know about building a model tank." My friend gave me George's
phone number. I thought about it for a couple of days and then made the
fateful call.
I made the call and George answered. We talked for about a half an hour
and I invited him to my AMPS (Armor Modelling & Preservation Society)
Chapter (Eastern Front AMPS) meeting, which was coming up in a week. We
swapped phone calls a couple of times and I got to know him. He sounded like
pretty good guy, if somewhat unsure of himself in the armor field. The night of
the meeting arrived and I walked into Maplewood Hobby, where we hold our
meetings. In the back was this lanky guy wearing a pair of blue jeans and denim
shirt. I said, "You must be George."
He replied, "Yup. I guess you're Georg, too." Later on during the meeting,
he brought the model he was working on, Zvezda's T-34/76. It wasn't badly
built and as a first model, was pretty good. Over the next couple of months,
George became a good friend, calling with model related questions or just to
chat. He came over to the house and met my wife, Luciane. Slowly, he
became part of our lives. He was actually the first friend Madison met the day
we brought her home from the breeder. He celebrated birthdays with is and
went to parties. I got him to build a couple of models for Decalcomaniacs! (see
the gallery) as he was retired due to a medical condition. We learned he played
the blues guitar and had a thing for P-39 fighter planes. Every now and again
I'd get a call from him at my job with some silly message. Generally, he
brightened our day and when he needed cheering up, we tried to do the same.
One thing that drove both my wife and I crazy was George's smoking. He
chain-smoked most of the time (something that was not allowed in our home).
We both tried to convince him to quit, which he did on several occasions. But
he would start again a couple of weeks later. In the end, that's what killed him.
George died on November 4, 2004 from lung cancer. He was a good friend
and a good soul. All of us who knew him will miss him. George: wherever you
are: ROCK ON!