Bruce Eilers, musician, teacher, Father, friend, and mentor, passed away very suddenly yesterday afternoon- June 12, 2005. He went to church in the morning and in true Ragbrai tradition took a bike ride and returned home where he was found on the couch.

This is a tremendous loss to all of us and of course to the teaching and musical community of Iowa and beyond.

But, to me and my fellow Hawgs, this is the loss of a wonderful and true friend.

In 1994, I knew nobody in Iowa and only knew that it was two or three states up North- the one with the nose on the Eastern side. And oh yeah, there was a really famous bike ride up there that went across the entire state. After missing a bike ride down here in Texas, and having some personal hard times that year, I really wanted to get up there and ride this "Ragbrai", which I was pronouncing with a long A at the end. Silly me.

We really didn't have an internet back then, but there was a message board on line for those that had those 300 baud modems on their Apple 2's and TRS-80's. It was hosted by the Pepper Music Network and was used for ordering sheet music by band, orchestra, and choal directors.

So I posted a message to "Iowa Directors" and asked if anybody knew about the ride and how I could come aboard. I received a very quick reply from Bruce Eilers. He told me all about his experiences and about the Hawgs. He also invited me to join and even picked me up in Clinton, the final town of the 1994 ride so that my car would be ready to drive back to Houston for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary.

It was an instant friendship that grew from Bruce and the Hawgs. With one year off, I have ridden every year along with Norm and the others.

We're going to miss Bruce terribly. Yes, I have friends down here in Texas, but truthfully, it's not the same as when you go all the way up to Iowa and wear funny clothes and listen and talk about work, play, dreams, plans, joys, sorrows, and how far the next town is down the road.

I think Bruce taught us all not to worry about the small stuff. He not only gave me friendship with himself and his family, but really brought us all together into a roving circle of friends that for one week out of every year, are and will continue to be the most closely knit group of people I have every had pleasure to know, along with my own family.