From Jeff and Emily Cohen

Digging through my memory bank and trying to recall some special times I was able to share that I’ve had with Gus, I thought these few moments I would be able to keep things upbeat as well as funny and memorable to me.

My first real experience, as a 12 year old ,with Gus occurred at our cabin at Smith Mountain Lake. Gus knew absolutely nothing about fishing and operating a boat but he was about to get a vigorous lesson from me that day. From paddling the boat to casting a line to shore everything he did was wrong that day and he was hearing about it from me and not in a good way. Let’s just say sounds carry greater over water and you could hear me cussing a blue streak that day as I was reminded by my parents as we finally made it back to our dock safely but with no fish to show for it. 

A second memory was something more along his line of expertise where he definitely knew way more than my very limited knowledge as a 20 something year old. This one occurred when Gus was helping me install my new CB radio in my car and helping me get set up to be able to operate it. He even gave me my “ handle “ to be used while talking over the airways. Breaker breaker one nine this is the “ junkyard dog” talking to you was my introduction to this popular trend back in the day. I can still remember both me and Gus talking on the radio to complete strangers about things we knew and probably more of what we didn’t know but we had a great time doing this together initially as I first got started with this new “ freedom on the airwaves “. 

My last comment in this remembrance to one of my favorite uncles, would be to thank him for gifting our family with his generous business gift novelty… the famous Ace Drill bushings embossed gold colored finger nail trimmers. We have had several of these in our family for well over 40 years it seems and we all have talked about Gus giving numerous ones to all of our family members. In fact we are down to just one now but it’s been timeless in its purpose and effectiveness kinda like Gus has been throughout his career and life. I hope these few anecdotes can help bring a smile to Gus’ family today as we help celebrate and remember fondly a life well lived and a man we all loved so very much. Rest in peace Uncle Gus