Mel Krieger Memorial 2 November 2008
After a weekend of rain the sky cleared to produce a warm afternoon for the 2 November Celebration of Life Party for Mel Krieger, who passed away on October 7th at age 80. Hundreds of friends, students, and fellow casting instructors came to the Golden Gate Angling Casting Club Ponds and Angler’s Lodge in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The club and the Golden West Women Fly Fishers provided more than abundant refreshments and I was stirred when I first entered the lodge to see Fanny and Mel’s daughter Susan, and Mike MacWilliams against a background slide show of Mel casting and fishing.
Tim Rajeff from Seattle, WA spoke movingly about growing up with Mel and Fanny as a second set of parents. Ralph and Lisa Cutter were then from Lake Tahoe and Bill Kiene and David Armacido came from Sacramento and Colusa. Dave Drahiem and Jim Adams were there from the East Bay as were Al Kyte and Anne Vitale, as were many, many more.
Golden Gate’s John Till and Bob Porter lead the presentation and Fanny Krieger gave a moving account of Mel and fanny’s move from Houston, Texas to find a home in San Francisco with the masters at the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club.
Mel Krieger lived life on his terms, and touched so many of us around the world, that he will always be in our thoughts.
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