Re: David Andrews

[Don Morrison <dfm ringing org>]

Damn. That’s horrible news.

Yes, David was an extremely good ringer, and a pleasant fellow. If I
remember correctly he knew Alan Winter when they were both undergraduates
at Cambridge. If memory serves, he shared an office in the Green Building
with another ringing postdoc (or maybe she was a PhD student at the time),
Kay Parkin. I don’t remember now whether or not that might be why Kay
learned to ring.

A few David stories:

• He came to MIT as a postdoc not knowing there was any ringing to be had.
But he saw a blurb about the introductory IAP thing his first year here
(err, there) and showed up. He introduced himself to Geoff, who gave the
initial talk about ringing, by saying, quite politely, something along the
lines of, “You showed a picture of a tower in the UK you said was Ringwood.
I learned to ring at Ringwood. That wasn’t Ringwood.” :-)

• He and I shared an apartment on Harvard Street for about a year. It was
an apartment formerly occupied by two other ringers, Marj Winter (then
Batchelor) and Beryl Nelson. David and I did an excellent Odd Couple
imitation, I obviously being Oscar Madison and David being Felix Unger. I
am unwilling to commit to immortal bits any of the sordid details, but they
all reflect well on David and poorly on his roommate.

• As an undergraduate (or whatever it is they call them there) at Cambridge
David was on a floor with only one other student. Curiously, he was
interviewed at some length before being assigned those digs. It was because
the other occupant was Prince Charles. I can confirm that David exhibited
every bit of the discretion that they possibly could have hoped for from
him. I know he was subsequently invited to The Wedding, though, in typical
fashion, declined.

David was a really good guy, and contributed a lot to Boston ringing the
few years he was here (err, there). I believe he had rung few peals before
coming to MIT, but rarely (if ever) made a trip in those I rang with him.
Or any other time he was ringing. You’ll see his name on a peal board in
the Advent ringing room, the one in memory of Harris Collingwood. He was in
the first ever tower bell peal of London for the NAGCR. He rang handbells,
too; I don’t remember if he joined us already a handbell ringer or learned
it at MIT.

I know David married in the early 80s, in Oxford. Bill Perrins didn’t say
anything about his family, I wonder if he has left one and, if so, how they
are holding up?

Besides Geoff, I’m sure Dave Westmoreland will remember David, too. Dale,
if your parents haven’t heard the sad news yet through other channels, I’m
sure they’d like to know.


--
Don Morrison <dfm ringing org>
“All bits live forever, and all bits eventually become public.”
         — Nathaniel Borenstein, who no longer remembers
            when first he committed it to electronic bits
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