Bob Edwards - Rest in Peace our Friend

[Freebird]

As most of you know by now, Bob Edwards departed this world yesterday, Friday April 30th, 2010. Many of you also know that Bob was a co-founder of the Venturers Motorcycle Club along with my self in 1997. Here is a short excerpt from the Venturers history page.

 

"In early 1997 Bob Edwards purchased a 1983 Yamaha Venture touring motorcycle. Living in the small state of Rhode Island with few sources of information, he resorted to the World Wide Web, looking for any references about this rig. Soon he found a discussion board with many Venture owners who were feeling rejected because of Yamaha's discontinuance of the marque. Bob decided to start a webpage in hopes of meeting others in the same predicament. The "Yamaha Venture Webpage" was born in the winter of 1997.

 

Later in 1997 Don Nelson of Texas (at the time), in a unrelated effort, started a discussion forum based on the Yamaha Venture Royale he had just purchased. The two websites continued to grow independently throughout 1997 into early 1998."

 

It was shortly after that when Bob and I combined our efforts to create what is now the Venturers Motorcycle Club.

 

Obviously there came a time when I decided to go my own way to create the VentureRiders club and to be honest, there were some periods during that time when Bob and I did not always see eye to eye on various issues. I am so very thankful that any bad feelings between the two of us were put to rest long ago and he and I did share a number of emails over the past few months about the dreaded disease of cancer that we were both fighting with. Unfortunately, his was much worse than mine.

 

It would not be hard to come up with a LOT of great things to say about Bob but I will try to keep it short. The biggest thing is that he had a huge heart, a sincere love for riding and genuine feelings for the many that he counted as friends and a fierce loyalty to the club that he helped found.

 

I feel that my life was enriched by knowing Bob. I am glad that I was able to meet him face to face and ride with him at least one time and I will never forget the warm person that I learned him to be. Some of the emails of support that he sent to me in regards to my own cancer when he himself was fighting a much harder battle with his own...I will cherish his kind words and he will not be forgotten.

 

Godspeed our friend....we will someday ride together again......

[Marcarl]

Thanks for sharing Don. It's good to hear about life, other than MC once in a while. Posting like this gives us a little larger window into who we are, and makes us a bit more family. My condolences to you my friend and may the Creator be a comfort to you.

Carl

[Yammer Dan]

Good one Don. Prayers for Bob and his family.

[Jrichard]

God bless and Godspeed--Bob: see ya on the 'Glory road'

[1 - UP]

Bob and his family have my prayers.

Ken

[gunboat]

thanks don for shareing this. may he rest in peace, love to his family. he may gone but he will not be forgoten.

reguards

don c.

[oldschool]

Rest easy Bob.....you've earned it.

[Guest scarylarry]

Thanks Don for sharing as a newbie here, I was wondering who he was.

Thanks for shedding light on this and may God be with him and he rest well.

[midnite]

RIP, prayers for Annette and all the family. Passenger boards DOWN.

[OutlawRider]

Don,

 

Thanks for sharing that story. As I have not been here that long and it gives me a good understanding of what the great people Bob and You both are and the love this forum has for motorcycles and riding. Prayers sent for Bob and his family.

[Jerry Zimmermann]

Hey Brother Don,

Thank you for let'n us know! My sicere condolences to the family and friends of Bob, may God bless you and comfort you during this difficult time!

You have fought the good fight,

You have finished the race,

You have kept the faith!

-2 Timothy 4:7-

[hoghead]

Rest in Peace.

 

hh

[relic]

Prayers and thoughts go out to the family at this trying time, and to all that knew Bob our prayers go out as well.

[eusa1]

POSTED TODAY BY BOB'S WIFE :ANNETTE

ON THE VENTURERS.ORG SITE

 

 

Hi everyone

 

I attempted to post last night but I don't see it anywhere, so I will try again.

 

Thank you all for your kind words. Bob is in a better place. He had no life ins so I scraped up enough money to have him cremated. He wanted to be buried in his family plot in Loweville, NY. So his brothers are going to pay for that. I would of liked to do a viewing, but. I could not afford it. Everything here at home reminds me of him. Everything I do my way, in my head I hear him tell me that's not how you should be doing it. When I went to the funeral home to make arrangements, I chose a beautiful gold urn. After I decided to go with that urn, I felt he would be pleased with my choice. It just felt right!!! And I felt that I am doing right by him. It made me feel at peace with myself. I find keeping busy with the million things I need to do here at home, is my way of dealing with the sadness I feel. There will be a memorial service. I just haven't gotten to that yet. But I will let you know when it will take place.

 

Annette

[Pegasus1300]

I don't post here very often.I was with Bob and Don before the Venturers even became the Venturers.I followed Don to the MTA and then here but kept my membership at Venturers also and mostly i post over there.Don thank you for the posting on the early days.Whether you knew Bob Edwards or not Motorcycling lost one of its great ones this weekend.The fact that we have 2 fantastic places to come and talk about both 1st and 2nd gen yamaha v-4s is due to the vision and perservience of Bob and Don.We cover the world pretty much now but back in the day I think we only had about 20 or thirty of us and most of them were on the East coast or Texas.We will miss Bob alot. He had a wonderful sense of humor and could really tell a great story.He was always concerned for his friends in the Venturers.When my first wife died he was one of the first with condolences and right there with good wishes when I married the 2nd time.He even wrote about his illness with interest and some humor making it more then just a lament over current woes.We will ride with our passenger pegs down but I cant see Bob as ever being comfortable as a passenger.We will miss you Bob Good Luck and God speed.Don thanks for your efforts here even thru your own trying times.

[Hummingbird]

I'm a newbie to this board but not to cancer. I know the pain -

 

 

My condolences to Bob's family and friends.