Dana Rinehart--My longtime friend has passed away.

Dana Rinehart-- my long time friend of 25 years from Knoxville, Tennessee, has passed away after a brief bout with cancer.

I text him on Saturday mid-afternoon, January 19th, to get an update after having spent the week thinking about him, only to receive a totally unexpected response from his wife regrettably letting me know he had passed earlier that morning. I was in complete shock-- without a breath to breathe. The response I'd expected was "My new treatment has started and is going well", or "I'm on the couch watching Frazier, these guys are hysterical!"

I am heavy-hearted, it's tough to take a deep breath and not think about him-- the news of his passing is beyond acceptance.

During our 25 years worth of adventures, Dana was once my boss, a co-artist with me on many projects, my screen printer, my car-tower, my carpet stretcher, my comic-convention cohort, my robot-building side-kick, the spontaneous adventurer on too many outings to list, a zany nut & a match for my off-brand humor, a man I would laugh with for hours if not days, and most of all, the loyalist of friend. He was a chronically happy man who had a contagious joy-filled laugh, he was positive always, and was just a truly warm-hearted guy. As I look at his picture, this is the way he was all the time. My friend was authentic, amazingly consistent and was genuinely loved by I think everyone who knew him.

Dana was prepared for every occasion. Just like the Boy Scout motto says, ''he was always prepared''. Listening to him as we talked on the phone for the last time and reading his final texts was comforting to me as I know he was even prepared for the final days. His heart belonged to Christ and he maturely spoke of his faith-- he was living in peace. And while he didn't like the condition he was in, nor the suffering of cancer and back pain, he was at peace and he trusted God for what had been placed on him. What an amazing witness.

I will carry my memories of Dana with me for the rest of my life, and I'll think of him with joy, respect, brotherly love, and great fondness always. He was a rare friend--the best you could have for a friend.

Thank you for reading.

-Steve