For some of the old timers that have been on here awhile, saw a pic of Ellis and I today so I went to look up how Ellis was doing. We used to chat quite a bit and he guided me in my boat on Galveston Bay in 2005. Was sad to find he actually passed away in Nov 2015, just a bit over a month after his last post on this forum.

It's been a long time so those that knew him may already know - I didn't. He was a kind person who didn't seem to have a negative thing to say about anyone and made dozens and dozens of posts on here, so thought others may want to know as well.

Every year at a show I exhibited at in Houston Ellis would call me to make sure I was going to be there and He’d always stop by my booth to pick up supplies to build one or two rods and shoot the breeze.

Yep, he used to talk about and refer folks to Swampland quite a bit.

Lance, I miss seeing both of you post along with that of Bill Stevens as well. He is greatly missed, I think very fondly of him each time I use my Castaway 874 of which he crafted a custom decal for. He was also kind enough to send a complimentary Castaway blank for a rod that I built for my commands Christmas party. I still stay in contact with the individual who won that rod and they rave about it to this day and it was a decade ago it came into their possession.

Take care. Hope all is well with you and Rachel. If you still do the gatherings in the swamp I would love to attend.

Tom Kaufmann

Thomas I’m still around but mostly deal with walk in customers and phone. Rachael and I are now divorced.
Moving into a retail store in the coming month.
It’s good hearing from you again. Give me a call anytime you want to catch up on the “old” days.

Very sorry to hear of the divorce . Never fun , I am on marriage #3 but finally found the right one. I will certainly hit ya up here in the next couple days!! I wish you nothing but the best with the new store

Tom