Back in 2003 I lost a very good friend, Cary Bassani. He was an O gauger and a forum member. He passed away suddenly and was buried back in Yakima Washington where he grew up. His wife asked me to design something for his grave stone and you’ll see it below. Cary was a huge Big Boy Union Pacific guy. He would have loved to see the 4014 and I like to think he did. 😎 With the Big Boy series being 4000 numbers I decided on 4603. He was 46 and died in ‘03. The small brick at the lower left corner is a replica of a brick that is at the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA. Cary and I attend York in 2000 and 2002. The brick lists all the members in our small model train club here in East Central Illinois. Cary came up with the club name (CIT) Central Illinois Tinners. Tinners for the track we ran on and it was also a play on words because he was a professional Opera singer that sang Tenor. 😎 It was great to see Cary’s final resting place with Mt. Rainier off in the distance. I was also able to visit and tour where he grew up. His Dad owned apple ground and his brother Alan still does.
Cary’s Gravestone
