RIP "Lurch" Sutton
I just heard that Lurch had passed away from a number of sources. And part of me kept clinging to that thought : it's some other Lurch, not "the" Lurch. But really, how many could there BE? Still, I clung to that hope ...
I met him back in 2002, when I was in San Francisco with Fujimoto-sensei, and that's where the picture above was taken (he's at the far right, for those who don't know him/of him). I had already heard of Lurch, as he already had a level of fame within the bear community, and I remember initially having seen a picture of him online after doing a search after reading of this "Lurch" in, of all things, a foreward in a Leonard and Larry book.
I admit, I thought he was a gorgeous man, and his general attitude of life and his humour made him even more attractive to me. I remember seeing the contests where he emceed, and how he had just come back to hosting duty after an illness, and he joked to a roaring crowd of peers : "Y'all can't get rid of me THAT easily."
That quote's echoing in my head now, now that I know that he's gone. I never did get to know him as well as I'd have liked, and I admit that I kick myself for squandering that opprotunity.