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Doug Pavlichek - "Wallphone"

Started by Dennis Markham, January 29, 2016, 11:32:48 PM

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Dennis Markham

It wasn't until late in the month this past November of 2015 when I was shocked to learn of the death of forum member Doug Pavlichek, known to us as Wallphone.  Many of us knew Doug simply as Doug Pav.  Doug's life was taken much too soon in an auto accident here in Michigan in May of 2015.  He was 61 years old.  I had not heard of his passing at the time.  He lived about a three-hour drive to the north of me in Unionville, MI.  Doug moved there from the Detroit area a few years ago.

We met at one of the TCI telephone shows, I believe it was 2009. Since then I had been to his home, he to mine.   More recently we would talk by phone from time-to-time and also via e-mail.  He had called me last April to wish me a Happy Birthday.  I thought we had spoken more recently but as it turned out he would be gone the following month.

Doug had a similar interest in other collectible things besides telephones too.  He wanted a console Zenith similar to the one that I had purchased several years ago.  Whenever I saw one on eBay that was in driving distance, I would send him the link to the auction and say, hey, let's go get this one.  I sent him such an e-mail in mid-November just as I was leaving for a quick trip to Dallas.  When I returned home a few days later I did not have a reply, which was unusual.  For some reason I Googled his name and there it was...his obituary on-line.  I was stunned.  I had not heard anything of his death.

Since the article said he died in May of 2015 I couldn't believe I had not talked with him since my April conversation.  I thought this must be a mistake.  I went to the TCI site and viewed the Newsletters for June of 2015.  I don't always keep up with the newsletters.  Sure enough there was a blurb about his passing.  Doug was at one time on the Board of Directors with the TCI and had many friends associated with the club.  His family must have contacted and informed them of his passing.

I don't know the details of the accident except I have learned his son was with him at the time and was unhurt.  I have not spoken with his family.  I"m relatively sure they don't know me as I have never met his son or daughter.

As mentioned, Doug was active with the Telephone Collector's International.  He promoted telephone collecting and also the TCI.  He was always a very nice, friendly person that spoke highly of other collectors and always wanted to learn more about various telephones.  As it turned out we both started late in life and had a lot in common, from collecting various phones to listening and talking about baseball, especially our hometown team, the Detroit Tigers.  He loved NHL hockey and was an avid Detroit Red Wings fan.

I was just looking back through e-mail exchanges (I rarely delete anything) which go back to mid-2009.  There are hundreds more that followed.  We really enjoyed talking phones and sports.  Doug drove to my home the night before the Michigan show two or three years ago.  We rode to the show together and had a couple of tables, trying to help the show by selling some things.  We had a great time with the conversations and spent some good time talking about our hobby.

Many of us strike up friendships through the forum or the phone clubs and we feel like we know each other.  It is an added bonus when we meet another member that lives close-by and the friendships are even better after meeting face-to-face.  I have been fortunate enough to meet other members in person via the telephone show in Mason, MI.  A few who also live near-by.  It really enhances the experience.

We will all miss DougPav.  He was a real nice guy, an intelligent guy that wanted to learn and know more about the hobby.  He spoke well of everyone he met through the phone clubs and this forum.  I never heard him say a bad word about anyone and he was always glad to share what he knew or what he had to help his fellow phone collector.  He would often bring me something that he thought would be useful to me for my restorations.  I have a few telephone projects that I can blame him, I mean thank him for that still languish.  A while back Steve Hilsz was selling some Light Beige AE 50's.  Doug convinced me that I had to have one.  We both bought one from Steve and talked many times how we'll get to restoring them one of these days.

Doug's death reminds us once again that life is short.  Enjoy each day.  Enjoy each other and take nothing for granted.

I can think of no one better than Doug Pavlichek to honor with the formation of a memorial page for our telephone collector friends that have passed.

Thank you Terry (AE_Collector) for your thoughtful suggestion and effort to create such a Memorial Tribute page.

~Dennis Markham

AE_Collector

#1
Thanks Dennis for posting that excellent remembrance of Doug.

I too had heard nothing of Doug's passing in May of 2015 until Dennis sent me a PM in November asking if I had heard about Doug. I still remember the feeling of shock and sadness that swept over me as I read that message from Dennis. I also realized that I wasn't putting the effort into reading the TCI Singing Wires newsletters that I should once Dennis located the announcement in the June edition of Singing Wires.

I can't recall when I first started chatting with Doug. Maybe it was via the "TCI list" as he managed to recruit me to the TCI nominating committee at one point in time. Doug and I joined CRPF 2 days apart in 2010.

My memories of Doug are very similar to those that Dennis mentions. Doug loved sports and was 100% behind his local teams. I recall his moaning about the Detroit Lions on numerous occasions and the ups and downs of our Detroit Red Wings / Vancouver Canucks discussions. Well...., usually the Ups of the Wings and the Downs of the Canucks.

Doug was very knowledgeable about music as well. I would mention something to him in an email and he would quote the words from a song that my comments reminded him of. He liked living relatively close to the Canadian US border as he could usually get CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and he often talked about watching Canadian Football and the differences between it and US Football. Much of these discussions went way over my head as I was at best a casual sports fan knowing little of the technical aspects of the games, but I tried. Doug was always interested in discussing the differences in how things were done in Canada versus in the USA on a multitude of different subjects. And of course we had discussions about several different Canadian bands mostly from the 60's and 70's.

Doug was a moderator on the CRPF but he sort of wandered off late in 2011 when his life took a change in direction. I have numerous emails filed away where I regularly asked Doug when he was coming back to the CRPF. He always said that he would be back but wasn't quite certain when it would be. He checked in to thank everyone for Birthday wishes in 2014 and then finally in late April 2015 he looked as though he was back. His last post was a Happy Birthday wish to Bill Geurts though he was logged in on the forum several weeks later in May. Unfortunately that was the last we heard from our good friend Doug Pav. I notice that he always signed off as Doug Pav in his older posts but when he came back in 2015 he was just Doug.

I never met Doug though it seems as though I had. Always a friendly, helpful person who was fun to chat with and who seemed to get along well with everyone. I certainly miss him and the forum just wont be quite the same without him.

While I mentioned a week ago in the topic introducing the CRPF Memorials area that the subject of a memorials area had come up on several occasions, it was ultimately Doug's passing that made it happen. Thus we have named this area of the Classic Rotary Phone Forum to the memory of our good friend Doug Pavlichek.

Rest in Peace Doug.

Terry

I think that Doug probably sent me this picture of himself along with Odis Levrier at one of the shows though I am not certain which show it was. I can only retrieve a date when I saved the picture which is at 11:05 PM on December 06, 2011 so obviously not the time that the picture was taken.

(edit) Found a second picture of Doug, this one with Mark Scola at Mason Michigan taken on April 5, 2008.

Phonesrfun

#2
It sure is amazing (and scary) how short life is.  I think this forum section is a great idea and fitting.
-Bill G

Dennis Markham

#3
Another photo.  This one is from the Mason, MI show in April of 2011.


Doug Rose

I didn't know Doug other than a few emails. He was a member of the Forum before I arrived and we always had the "other Doug" schtick going on. Great guy, he will be missed. It is sad when some just disappears from the Forum, you think they just lost interest but it was so much worse. Rest in Peace Doug.....other Doug
Kidphone

AE_Collector

Yes, now that you mention "other Doug" I remember that. It is Very upsetting to have lost Doug Pav.

Terry