Alan Smith passed

[Chuck C]

Long time HECA member and former director pass away of a heart attack this evening. Many of you saw him at the show running the elevating grader. I will post more details when I have them
Chuck Czaplewski

[Tom Berry]

As a minor correction, he was currently serving as a National Director. He told me at the Board meeting two weeks ago today that he wanted to enjoy what time he had left; it was truly a blessing for all of us, and hopefully for him, that he was able to participate in the show. A great, great man is gone.

[tew]

Al talked to me last Sunday about the HCEA show. He was proud that he was on the Elevating Grader all the days of the show. Since he had his illness he attened the shows he wanted to and kept on moving dirt. He had a great time up here at Rock River and I know he did in at the HCEA show as well as Waconda last weekend. He was talking with me about going to another show this weekend. He will be there in spirit.

[CraigM]

Was great seeing Al at the show. Sorry for the news.

[Tom Berry]

Visitation will be Wednesday, October 7 at 10:00 AM, with the funeral the next day. We don’t know the exact location yet, but the funeral will be in Wauconda, Illinois.

[tew]

The visitation is Wed October 7 from 4-8pm at Kisselburg-Wauconda Funeral home, 235 Main St Wauconda IL.Funeral witll be on Oct 8 at 10am from the same funeral home. They have web site with more inforamtion.

[Jim Laven]

Here is a couple of pictures of Al on one of his favorite types of machines he liked running. These were taken at Bowling Green this year. I’m glade I got to spend time with him at his last show. I had the opportunity to pull the dump wagon that he filled with his Cat elevating scrapper at Rock River this year. Most other years Al operated it for an hour or two, but this year he was on it almost all day for two days straight. He just didn’t want to get off of that machine all weekend. I think he knew this was going to be his last ride. As I pulled along side him for the next pass with the wagon he always had the biggest smile. He sure looked like he was in heaven up high on the machine’s operator platform. When most of the other haulers needed a break I kept going because he didn’t want to just sit there. How could I deny that. He always made me laugh when he would tell people that I was his best wagon puller. I had to reply, “but Al, sometimes I’m your only hauler, I had to be the best” then he would laugh back. We laughed a lot that Saturday morning when the two of us were greasing his scraper. There was a lot of fitting on the conveyor belt. So the easiest way to get to them was to climb the belt. It was dusty from the day before and the morning dew made every thing slippery. I slipped a lot and he laughed. I was covered in mud all over. When the rest of the fellows showed up, they to laughed at me cover in mud. All I said was” I fell down” they laughed again. People like teasing him about his collection going into the ”black hole” but I think he was most generous bring a lot of his equipment out for others to run and enjoy. I will always remember him and his big smile, like the close up picture I attached.