RIP Big John

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Beyond Description
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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Beyond Description » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:32 pm

This is incredibly sad, I did not expect to see this today. John seemed like a genuinely great person with a big heart.

RIP Big John

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Hedges » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:34 pm

Im deeply saddened by this.

May the four winds blow (your sails) safely home

:cry:
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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Unc. John » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:35 pm

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/nyre ... about.html

Old Hands on the River Didn’t Have to Be Told What to Do

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Unc. John » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:38 pm

Old Hands on the River Didn’t Have to Be Told What to Do
By Jim Dwyer

Jan. 16, 2009

Around 3:30 on Thursday afternoon, Capt. Carl Lucas fired up the engines on the Athenia, a high-speed catamaran ferry docked at a pier in Weehawken, N.J., getting ready for the evening commuters on the Hudson River. The first wave would start in half an hour.

Then he spotted a plane in the water.

“We just threw off the lines and went out there,” said Captain Lucas, 34.

At the same pier, Capt. John Winiarski, 52, and a deckhand, Frank Illuzzi, 62, were on board the catamaran the Admiral Richard E. Bennis. They noticed the Athenia speeding away.

“We seen them scurrying out into the river, so we turned around and saw the plane in the river,” Captain Winiarski said. “We made a beeline.”


And so it went: a flotilla of rescuers, created by people who caught glimpses of something going wrong and did not have to be told to help. The Athenia, the Admiral Bennis and 12 other boats — all operated or chartered by New York Waterway — picked 135 people out of the river. The crews stopped their work and changed the world.

“You don’t look nowhere,” said Cosmo Mezzina, 62, a deckhand on the ferry the Governor Thomas H. Kean. “You don’t look right or left. You just look right in front of you, just to save, to rescue those people.”

One of the ferry captains, Manuel Liba, ticked off the strokes of fortune: the pilot brought the plane down smoothly, the Hudson was calm, it was daylight and it was 45 minutes before the evening rush on the river.

There was more than luck. On a bitter, frigid afternoon, the plane had come down minutes from people who regularly practice helping. The first ferry to reach it was the Thomas Jefferson, which pulled out of Pier 79 on the Hudson River at 39th Street in Manhattan. “As we turned around, we noticed the plane in the water,” said Vincent Lombardi, captain of the Thomas Jefferson. “We thought it was an odd-looking vessel.”

He radioed the Coast Guard, then headed for the plane. The arrival of the Thomas Jefferson can be seen on a Coast Guard video at 3:34 p.m., about four or five minutes after the plane hit the water. Other videos show more ferries nestled around the jet, drifting alongside as it was pulled south by the current.

“I’ve been on the water since I was 2 years old,” said Brittany Catanzaro, 20, the captain of the Thomas Kean and a ferry pilot for five months.

“I pulled out of Pier 79, I looked for any kind of southbound traffic, and I saw the plane there,” Captain Catanzaro said. “It was hard to stay next to it, but you practice that by throwing life rings in the water and trying to stay alongside them.

“One of the people got on board, turned around and hugged my deckhand. We’re just working as if we’re training and drilling.”

Each of the captains hailed the ferry deckhands — as well a ticket agent and bus driver — for hoisting people from the water.

The last person to leave a life raft was Chesley B. Sullenberger III, the captain of the US Airways flight. He climbed aboard the Athenia after everyone else had been lifted to safety. “Very calm,” Captain Lucas reported. “He had a metal clipboard with the passenger manifest. He came up into the wheelhouse, and we tried to organize a count of who was recovered from the water. I asked him if he thought there was anyone left on the plane. He said no, that he had checked twice himself.”

Muscle memory had steadied people in the currents of a disaster and the strong tides of the Hudson: an airline pilot remembering his metal clipboard, and ferry pilots who never moved out of reach of the bobbing airplane.

“You train so much, you don’t have to think about it,” Captain Lucas said. “I didn’t have to give any orders to the crew.”

And by Friday, another kind of memory began to take hold.

“We were getting the boat ready, and we saw the plane going down,” said Captain Liba, 52, who pilots the ferry Moira Smith. “We called management, we said, ‘We got to go.’ We just took off for the airplane. Right away, the doors flew out from the plane, and people came out.

“It’s like a dream. I still can’t believe it.”

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by diffendooferday » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:33 pm

Never met him, but a kind voice on this board for many years... saddened by this loss to our community.
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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Mike In Philly » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:35 pm

I am very saddened to hear this. I didn’t know John well, but you could never miss him at shows! He will be missed. We have lost too many over the years. RIP to John and all other angel .orgers.
Last edited by Mike In Philly on Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by ts » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:55 pm

Terrible news. I never knew him, but admired him from afar.

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by danM » Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:40 pm

(((Hero)))
9/14 Yarn
10/18 Yarn
10/31 Dead& Co
11/1&2 RRE
11/29&30 RRE
12/1 Joan,Jackie,Anders do Dylan
12/20&21 From Good Homes

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by stellablue72 » Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:49 pm

OMG
I don't know what to type. I'm in shock.

LOVE AND LIGHT to Big John - chilling with Jerry at last. Wow, I really felt a connection with him for so many years.

This one stopped me in my tracks. ((((((((Big John))))))))
My best to his family.
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bird on the horizon, silver wingin' back to me...

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by cstar » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:43 pm

I've been hearing his voice in my head all day.
"Chriiiiis" 😔😔😔😔😭😭❣️🤟
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love ------you make!"

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by cstar » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:43 pm

Thank you for posting the NYT story, UJ.
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love ------you make!"

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Dad » Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:35 pm

Fare thee well man

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Lhmwrench » Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:59 am

Never met him. Least I don't believe we met.
Just 'knew' him from board interaction.
Will miss his contributions here.
Goes to show ya don't ever know how much time is left on yer watch.
RIP Indeed, sir...
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Re: RIP Big John

Post by caseyjonesed » Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:17 am

cstar wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:43 pm
Thank you for posting the NYT story, UJ.
:clap :clap :clap

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Fishtown Boy » Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:20 am

I'm very sorry to hear this news.
((Big John))

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Unc. John » Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:29 am

Image

Image

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by Rich » Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:02 am

It's just not fair how incredibly cruel this world can be sometimes. John deserved a full life.
To all family, friends and those close to John, peace be with you as you try to come to terms with John's passing. Find solace that you knew John Winiarski and may thoughts of his good nature and warmth hold you thru this trying time.

Rest in Peace Brother. :cry:

Stroudsburg '06 pre-show. Big John, Dan and Nikki, PA Tom, Val, Tom M.

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by GDTRFB42 » Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:54 am

Hate to hear about this. I've read his posts on here for many years. I remember him posting about his diagnosis and being very optimistic about it. Fuck cancer.

RIP Big John.
We could have us a high time, living the good life

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by 66slim » Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:27 am

So sad. RIP brother!

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Re: RIP Big John

Post by deadscott » Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:53 pm

Very sad news indeed. Safe journey. You will be missed by many.
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