Paul Eaton, also called The old Prospector passed away on July 31, 2006. Paul hailed from either Beer Can Cove, Halibut Guts, Ruksackinmykayak, or (actually) Anchorage, Alaska.

I met Paul online at Isky's bulletin board back in the early 2000's. He was a well known and well liked part of Isky's, always upbeat, and willing to help any time he could. Paul was the sparkplug of the controline fliers in Anchorage, a model railroading enthusiast, and was the club representative for the model railroad club. He had been the scoutmaster for troop 82 in Anchorage. He was what my Cherokee ancestors called a "Valuable Man."

I met Paul in person during a trip to Alaska in 2004.

Ruby and I spent an enjoyable evening with Paul and toured Anchorage the next day. As I remember, He said that there were two controline circles in Anchorage. Paul was intelligent and articulate on many subjects. In the early part of 2006, Paul thought that he had caught a virus; it didn't get better, and he finally went to the doctor. He found that it was late stage lung cancer. Paul passed away on July 31 2006. A good friend, Bob Edison had visited him on the day that he passed. Paul was  excited that an out of town friend and fellow controline flier named Clyde was coming to visit.

After Paul passed, I read a tribute to him posted on the internet by a former member of troop 82. It partially went as follows.

A man is walking down the beach where he sees another man picking up starfish stranded on the sand after low tide, and is flinging them back into the surf. "What are you doing?" said the first man. " I'm saving these beached starfish" said the second man. The first man said " You realize that this beach goes on for miles, and there's thousands of other beaches in the world with thousands of other starfish that you'll never get to."

"That may be so", said the second man, "But I've made a difference to these."

Rest in peace, old friend.