A long-time blogging friend to many of us, Australian Brian Smith aka LordBeariofBow aka ElBoB, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 24. His daughter posted the following on his blog last night:
Hello DOD’s dear friends. It’s with great sadness that I am letting you all know that Lord Beari is now at peace. Dad passed last Tuesday (the 24th of September).
Please know that we read every one of your emails and messages to him which brought him much happiness and put a smile on his face through some very difficult times.
As you’d all know dad had hoped to make his final journey a trip to Wollongong however that wasn’t possible in the end – he wasn’t nearly fat enough to be accepted. Dad will be cremated and we are having a family memorial in the coming weeks. I will share a slide show we are putting together with you all soon.
In the meantime, if you fancy taking some time to remember dad I know he would love you to listen to Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. He’d be thrilled to think that was being played around the world for him. He also loved Beethoven s Ninth Symphony or Mozart’s Coronation March. If classical music is not your thing – he loved ol blues eyes – Frank Sinatra!
Thank you all for your emails sending love and support over the past couple of months.
Sending love and hugs back to you all
Sarah
xxx oo xxx
Rest in peace, Brian. I’ll never forget you.
(Cue Beethoven …)
Note, Nov. 9, 2019: Brian’s family has compiled a beautiful slideshow tribute that is available on YouTube.
❤️
He’ll be missed.
Even though we often disagreed, I admired his steadfast loyalty to his beliefs and his tenacious defense of them.
I often disagreed with him too. At one point I even blocked him from posting. But that was early on, before I got to know him better. If we clashed, it was only because he was as devoted to Australia as I am to the US.
So very sorry x
It’s hard to lose friends, even those you’ve only met online.
That is so very true, especially if you have been following them for a while, and gained a small insight into their lives.
x
Please accept my condolences. Noel Grant.
Thanks, Noel. If you want to leave a note for his family, you can comment on his blog.
sad news
Indeed.
I will miss him greatly.
But know that he is at peace.
(((HUGS)))
Lovely tribute.,
That darn, contrary, wonderful, fun loving, adventurous, pithy Beari leaves a big gap in the friendship ring-around-the-blog-world.
He was quite the character, wasn’t he? And I’ll swear he’d been everywhere!!
I wish I would know the memorial details, so I could attend in person and represent all those friends he made in the blogging community around the world. I sense the family are keeping this one private. This is a lovely tribute from you, Pied Type. He was such a character (the old curmudgeon) – many of his comments were designed to get a “rise” – despite being born in England – he became a quintessential Aussie stirrer. You needed to take him half seriously, and then halve that again 🙂 kind regards Gwen aka Garrulous Gwendoline
He was a very special one-of-a-kind. If I’d lived a lot closer than Denver, I would have loved to meet him.
A lovely tribute to ElBob.
I loved that Brian retained his Cockney charm and wit, and even after all those years living down under, he still thought of himself as English. He would say we were English, not British and definitely not a Brit. He loved the royal family and remained staunchly loyal to our queen and country right up until the end. I am so glad I had the pleasure of knowing him.
I once called him a Brit and he certainly straightened me up about that!
I’ll bet he did 😀 I’ve always disliked it too. I feel I’m English first and British second! Not everyone feels that way, just the odd bods amongst us. 🙂
I used to sort of conflate the two, thinking that someone called a Brit or British was from England. Thanks to Brian, I’m a lot more aware of the distinction now.
Oh, yes, he was quick to point out that the United kingdom of Britain consists of four separate countries. I sometimes have difficulty sorting out other countries, it can be tricky. 🙂
Hey, I heard from LordBeariOfBow’s daughter, Sarah, today and she said, “If you could thank everyone (on WordPress) for me that would be fantastic. Dad would have loved to read the tributes and messages.”
So I wanted to pass on her thank-you!
(((HUGS))) 🙂
Thank you. You’ve been so kind to keep me in the loop on everything. I really appreciate it.
You’re welcome 🙂
Rest in peace Brian