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It is my sad duty to inform y'all of the passing of one of our own... (Tim Buck, aka "phut"
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just got a call from a lady named Jeorgia. She is the girlfriend of Tim Buck ("phut").
She said Tim passed away on August 31st. He was 49 years old.
Apparently he had been feeling a little sick- he thought he had a cold. He was found (in his garage, I think she said?) We had a really bad phone connection and I had just gotten home from work. Plus this came as a bit of a shock, so forgive me if I've botched any of the facts.
At this time, I take it that it's not really known what the cause of death was. It might have been a heart attack.
Anyway, there was no lingering illness or anything like that. She said he was in good spirits and happy about having been back on the forums here, and his exciting finds over the summer. No doubt you all remember the three Massachusetts "tree" coins he dug this summer! Any ONE such piece would be a detectorist's dream. Tim found THREE in one summer, and then just posted a picture and hardly anything more. He was a man of few words sometimes. I'd have written ten thousand words if I found something like that!
Ever the skilled detectorist, Tim went out with a bang, and Jeorgia said he was happy when he went, so I take that as some small consolation.
That's about all I can write for tonight. Perhaps tomorrow I will try to gather up what reminiscences I have of Tim, and you all are invited to do the same. I wrote an article when he came down here to visit several years ago, so I had the pleasure of meeting him in person once.
I always wanted to go up there and hunt some of his sites one day. Tim had apparently spoken of that, too.
Jeorgia wanted any pictures I had of him. There was one in my article I wrote at the time of his visit. It had a picture, but not a great one.
I'll link that up later. I can't remember, but there might have been a picture of him associated with one of the old Virtual Treasure Hunts, too.
I'll try to work this into a proper memorial thread but for now this will have to do. Once I've dug up what recollections and pictures I can find, I'll link Jeorgia up via email. She said she's not very computer savvy and had a hard time tracking me down, but she did.
Please remember her and our late friend in your prayers.
She said Tim passed away on August 31st. He was 49 years old.
Apparently he had been feeling a little sick- he thought he had a cold. He was found (in his garage, I think she said?) We had a really bad phone connection and I had just gotten home from work. Plus this came as a bit of a shock, so forgive me if I've botched any of the facts.
At this time, I take it that it's not really known what the cause of death was. It might have been a heart attack.
Anyway, there was no lingering illness or anything like that. She said he was in good spirits and happy about having been back on the forums here, and his exciting finds over the summer. No doubt you all remember the three Massachusetts "tree" coins he dug this summer! Any ONE such piece would be a detectorist's dream. Tim found THREE in one summer, and then just posted a picture and hardly anything more. He was a man of few words sometimes. I'd have written ten thousand words if I found something like that!
Ever the skilled detectorist, Tim went out with a bang, and Jeorgia said he was happy when he went, so I take that as some small consolation.
That's about all I can write for tonight. Perhaps tomorrow I will try to gather up what reminiscences I have of Tim, and you all are invited to do the same. I wrote an article when he came down here to visit several years ago, so I had the pleasure of meeting him in person once.
I always wanted to go up there and hunt some of his sites one day. Tim had apparently spoken of that, too.
Jeorgia wanted any pictures I had of him. There was one in my article I wrote at the time of his visit. It had a picture, but not a great one.
I'll link that up later. I can't remember, but there might have been a picture of him associated with one of the old Virtual Treasure Hunts, too.
I'll try to work this into a proper memorial thread but for now this will have to do. Once I've dug up what recollections and pictures I can find, I'll link Jeorgia up via email. She said she's not very computer savvy and had a hard time tracking me down, but she did.
Please remember her and our late friend in your prayers.
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i wonder if there could be a memorial forum created to remember lost members.
Here is that story.
Tim found Spanish colonial silver on a hard-hunted site that several of us had pounded for months if not years before he visited.
Here is his last thread on the forums.
He finished his treasure hunting career with some spectacular success, but posted the results in a surprisingly understated way. If I had found ONE Massachusetts silver piece, let alone THREE, I'd have written volumes about it! He just posted the three all mixed in with other coins in a group shot, with simply "2012" as his title. In addition to being a nice guy, he was also quite modest.
Not everyone knew him over there, but you can bet that there are a few dozen who will remember his pictures of all those Massachusetts "Tree" coins!
I always enjoyed Tim posting his finds, most were crazy cool. Gonna be missed around here. My condolences to the family.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Tim has a small number of Indian artifacts that I collected over the years and swapped with him. Tim new of my love for buttons and sent me a small jewelry box of them that he personally dug over the years.
I need to get them out and photograph them.
Tim was one of the best relic hunters I personally know. His persistence was unmatched as a "dig it all" hunter. He would fill a five gallon bucket with tons of scrap and trash but almost always had a few nice finds that would make anyone jealous .
We shared numerous Pm's talking about Indian artifacts and relics. In fact the only person I have more pm's with is you Rob.
Tim was a man of few words but what an awesome man he was.
I just can't believe he is gone. It's so sad.
his cute little kitten avatar and always enjoyed his threads.
My condolences to all who knew him or were touched by his detecting.
bob
RickO
Thank you to Cocoinut, who dug that out of the archives. With my more modern browser, at home, I can't always use all the features of the site anymore.
Dave
My favorite is the large specimen at center which has a series of stars within one another and rays shooting out to the rim from them.
The thimble was a nice bonus!
I sent Tim some indian artifacts and he messaged me back after receiving them and stated "It was just like Christmas"
Thanks for your many exchanges of stories and relics Tim.
Phut was one of the first to welcome me to the forum back in 2005, and while I never had the pleasure of meeting him, he felt like a real friend.
We remember his outstanding finds of course, yet he was always very complimentary towards the more modest stuff others came up with.
He had a great sense of humor too.
We remember his "mighty cat" icon he posted under:
Then, one time when I'd found something slightly better than usual, he replied with this!!
My belated condolences to his family. Way too young!
<< <i>My belated condolences to his family. Way too young!
Indeed. But I got the impression Tim didn't have much family. In a way, it seems WE were his family.
Perhaps that's why his girlfriend Jeorgia saw fit to track me down and give me the sad news.
We sure had some fun. I had the pleasure of meeting (and digging!) with him in person once, as mentioned.
Where's that Godzilla-versus-Phut The Cat picture I did? Haha.
Looking through old messages, I saw that he even sent me a private message asking me how my family was doing during a tough/busy time while my wife was expecting my 2nd son... Tim (along with many others here) was a very caring guy.
Another fun fact/memory- Tim was the one who assigned me with one of his digs during the forum contest, VTH3. The dig he found for me, 2 Barber dimes in one hole, provided me with the grand prize that year.
My condolences to his family (on and off the board)...
Zot was just asking how many of the "old school" were still around, and your name came up.
The grey cat was Tim/phut's avatar.