Unkefer

[PDenbigh]

Guys and gals that were at VIR - We didn't hang around for the awards on Saturday (I know, I know...). Please fill us in on Dan Unkefer. I hear it's not great news, but I'd like to know anyhow. Perhaps MM should consider sending something his way, given that he's taught most/all of us in the classroom?

Thanks,
Peter

[Evan]

yes please fill in. what happened?

[Jake]

Alright, I'll share.

So about five years ago, Dan was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He had to have some surgeries and chemo, but they "got it" and all was well again.

I had wondered where he was back in February. Then he wasn't at any of the other events this year, either. Well, it turns out the cancer is back, and this time it's not responding to chemo. It is terminal and he is apparently in "self hospice" of some sort. So, he came out to the July VIR event, with a friend of his, in his yellow NSX, to "officially retire" from NASA Mid-Atlantic.

The after-party was pretty emotional and I was supremely glad I had the chance to give him a hug and thank him for everything he taught me over the past couple of years. I think we all remember his stories in the HPDE 1 classroom... about the UPS truck running him down on his motorcycle, something about snap-oversteer in the MR2, the lady who put her Miata in a ditch on purpose to avoid a collision, etc etc.

I am sure we will get updated on how he's doing. When the time comes, if they do a memorial service that's open to friends, I think it would be great to have a huge MM presence. He's touched a lot of our "track lives" for sure.

Sigh. Life's not fair.

[PDenbigh]

Thanks Jake.

MM should send him a trophy or a plaque of some sort, on behalf of everyone he's touched at the club and for feeding our addiction and helping keep us on the road. Please offer other ideas if you don't like that one.

I'm in to help at whatever level is needed. So, someone please let me know if the current MM leadership can take this up and get it ordered within a week or so, or if they'd prefer to have someone else handle it.

Peter

[BLINGMW]

Well that's sad. Thanks for the news though. In for contributing to a plaque. We could probably round up some individual cards/notes as well to include, at least I know I'd like to thank him personally.

[ispoonwithmugen]

Peter I'll get info on our accounts today or tomorrow and see what all we can get done!

[Mike]

fuck. thanks for the info.

[premiershine9]

Sad to hear Garrett, Jon and the officers making moves right now to get something together for him!

[PDenbigh]

Please keep us in the loop on what you are working on, ok? Thanks guys.

[Kaan]

Please keep us in the loop on what you are working on, ok? Thanks guys.

i'm sure some of us can help offset the cost too.

[G.Irish]

I was talking to Piali about this, and she made the suggestion that maybe we should try to get an experience for Dan or something. Maybe we could put together a video of all of our memories of him and send it to him. Like how his teachings stuck with us, or how we quote him sometimes.

You should not have done that

[PDenbigh]

That's a GREAT idea G.

[Mike]

count me in for anything. too often we say "oh that person was a gem," but in rare cases it's actually true. in dan's case, it really is. i'd put him in my top 10 most put-together and great people i've ever had the pleasure to meet.

anything is possible with cancer and hopefully we'll have him with us for many more years.

[Jake]

+1 to the "experience" idea. I think it would mean a lot more to him than a plaque of some sort.

[ispoonwithmugen]

Okay guys so we (officers) discussed things over. We're all for giving towards this guy but not a single one of us have met him before. I have to be careful about how I word this without being too blunt so here goes. I believe that if you guys want to get something to him and say it's from MM that's awesome but we don't really have the funds for an experience. Possibly a plaque could be in the budget. I understand that this may sound like we don't care but we absolutely do. Let me know what you guys are thinking about doing.

- Garrett

[navin]

Not being a paid MM member, I'd be willing to throw in some $$ to help get going whatever you guys decide on. We should get Nick Hanna in on it, so he can sign a card "The guy that was always late for the first classroom session on Saturday".

[Sully]

Regardless of money and what MM can afford, Garrett has a point. No MM member after Jake's generation has even met Dan so it would probably have more meaning if the people who knew him put something together. I was in NASA while Dan was still around but unfortunately never had a reason to venture into the classroom so our paths never crossed which from what I understand is a misfortune on my end.

To have people who never met him just buy a plaque probably wouldn't mean as much as Gerald's (well Piali's) idea.

Just my thought on it

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[PDenbigh]

I feel that is a short sighted perspective. None of us knew MLK but we still celebrate his day. That's an exaggerated example but you get the point. MM and NASA have been involved since almost day 1 of both organizations. You'll find in life that sometimes you have to do things to honor the past in order to facilitate the future, irrespective of your involvement in said past. The officers represent MM, past, present, and future.

You can't force feed this though, so those of us that want to participate in this, let's start an email chain. I'm peter.denbigh at G m a i l .com. If you're interested, express so here with email and I'll shoot everyone a note.

Peter

[G.Irish]

I think something all of us could do fairly quickly is do a short video of what we've learned and our favorite moments with Dan. Maybe if we announce our idea through NASA we can get lots of people to make videos.

I'd be down to put money towards an experience too, but I just don't have a good idea of what that experience might be at this point.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Fitzpadj at tttttttttthee gmails.

This doesn't have to be expensive, a small documentary video that he can watch, with maybe short 2 minute interviews for every person he met personally. Not only was Dan my instructor in the classroom, but he helped a close girlfriend of mine work through her traumatic fire experience. I may not have posted this on the forum, but my girlfriend was out in an HPDE riding along with an old family friend. Said family friend crashed the car into a wall, which the car then proceeded to catch on fire. All she remembers is smoke/fire/hot metal, burning her fingertips trying to get out (and failing or so she thought), and then blacking out. She doesn't remember how she got out, but she ended up being fine. This traumatized her significantly, as one can imagine thinking that you are literally going to die by burning alive.

Dan was a huge resource for talking to her, and spending a lot of time talking her through everything. Describing his own fear and experiences (his own very gnarly car fire, and about his father's death), I saw vast improvement from before and after. If it wasn't for Dan, I am not sure she could have even gotten home in a car, and had permanent damage

As for those who say " we didn't know him", I will provide an example:

I had just joined the crew (rowing) team for high school. We had had two practices, that is it. I barely knew anyone, some I had not even met. My father died of a tragic accident. For those who have lost a father/mother/daughter/son/brother, you know this pain/nauseau and dissillusion. I barely remember a lot of the time, but I do remember a few things clearly. The captain of the crew team had each Crew team member write a letter to me, and put it in a box. Cheap, I didnt know most of these people, who cares right? No, reading those letters really helped me through that time. I am not usually an overly emotional person, but to this day it still brings a flood of good feelings from that box that I still have at home. Don't dismiss a few kind words to people who are experiencing rough times, be it themselves or someone they love.