[Usittne] Remembering Alan Symonds

[John Gates]

  I first met Alan about 1969 or 1970, when I was a young college student
(NOT at deah Hah-Vud) when he was designing dimming and control at Capron
Lighting Co, Inc. in Needham, MA. The business was a lot different 36 years
ago than it is now, but Alan was the same then as he was until this morning.


  If you go to the dictionary and look-up "quirky", you have a real good
chance of finding his picture. Before his Toyota Land Cruiser(s), he owned a
light blue Dodge van and had artfully re-arranged the rather large front
name plate, dropping the 2nd D and the final E in Dodge (figure it out) -
typical Alan. 

  Always eager to show someone another way to do something (anything) he
always had a special place in his heart for students, especially those dear
souls in Cambridge MA. He helped countless numbers of us, often long after
we were no longer "students".

  I remember one time after several years had passed without regular contact
between Alan & me. I was on location for a film and had a technical question
about a lighting control console I was programming some special effects into
- Alan to the rescue...patiently, on the other end of a typical cell phone
connection, walking me through what he remembered of a console he hadn't
worked with for a while and then kindly waiting for me to program and try
the sequence to make sure it worked the way it needed to before hanging up -
also typical Alan. 

  Yes, Alan will be fondly remembered by many...and missed by all, in ways
they don't even know.

Peace, John Gates 


-----Original Message-----
From: usittne-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:usittne-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
Judy
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 10:25 PM
To: usittne at mit.edu
Subject: [Usittne] Alan Symonds

Dear members of USITT/NE,
I'm sorry to tell you that I have just learned that Alan Symonds of Harvard
University passed away today of a heart attack. There is no other
information available at this time, but I will pass on any details as they
come my way.
Judy Staicer
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