Jimmy Steele's Passing

I just learned from reading Chip Angell's post that Jim Steele passed away this year. I knew from the locals in Brooklin that he had bone cancer. When I met with him while searching for my boat, he said he couldn't build due to the pain but he hoped to start a Peapod in the fall of 2006 with help from a friend. I wonder if that ever happened.

When I told JImmy that I would be honored to own one of his boats, he seemed almost embarassed at the attention. From my brief meeting with him he seemed like a stand-up-guy. His Peapods are true works of art. They row like a dream and they are even better to look at. I'm so sad to hear of his passing. I hoped to send him new pictures of Thistle for his records. He tried to keep track of all of the boats he built as they transferred from owner-to-owner.

Well Jimmy, if you are able to read Blogs up there, just know that you were a true artist. I love my boat. Maybe I can work on setting up a Jimmy Steele Peapod rendezvous and have the proceedes benefit cancer patients in his name.

I plan on passing this boat on to my son and with hope, it will stay in our family for a good long time.