On June 24th, 2020, COVID-19 killed my friend of 40 years, Craig Anderson.

He was a quirky, generous, geek friend and there is no amount of words I can use to capture his spirit or our loss. I will share a couple of stories here that capture the essential Craig and illuminate just briefly why he will be so missed.

 

Flightiness

Craig was gifted a ’66 Ford Mustang and he love driving fast. One evening in the mid-80s I rode with him late at night as he sped along Highway 8. It must have been nearly midnight or so because the freeway was pretty much deserted and Craig was doing nearly ninety miles per hour. (Speed limits at the time were supposedly 55 MPH.0

I looked across Craig as he drove through his driver’s side window and spotted a California Highway Patrol car exited Highway 8 taking a ramp along a north-bound freeway. Apparently the CHPie had more important matters to attend to and turned his car’s spotlight towards us, playing the beam back and forth across the driver’s side.

Befuddled, Craig asked “Why’s he doing that?”

“He wants you to slow down,” I explained.

“Oh.” And  Craig, at least for a while reduced speed.

 

Humor

I shall not recount any of the nearly endless terrible puns that Craig so loved. He could always be counted upon to find a pun that was truly terrible and rarely actually funny but I do have an example of how humor infused his life.

In the early 80s Craig was struck with testicular cancer. He went into the hospital and they removed one testicle and then proceeded to crock open his chest because they had spotted a shadow on his lungs. Luckily that was not more cancer but Craig endured weeks in the hospital for treatment and recovery. I was unemployed and home when the one-testicled Craig returned to the apartment. He opened the door, dropped his bag, waved, and in a terribly high-pitched falsetto said, “Hi, Bob!”

 

Generosity

In the early 90s I shared a house with Craig and another housemate Bear. (Truly that nickname is one of the most apt I have ever encountered.) Bear and I were driving back to the house and I was facetiously debating him in favor of Ayn Rand and her Objectivism with its core concept that at heart all people are selfish and selfishness is in fact a virtue. (Not a philosophy I believed then or now but mere fun debating.) we entered the house Craig was sitting crossed legged in the center of the living room. I walked over to him and said that I wanted $20. Explaining that I did not need the money, there was no crucial debt or need just that I wanted it and also that this was not a loan as I would never pay it back. It would just make me happy to have an extra $20. Without a moment’s hesitation he leaned forward and staring taking his wallet say “Sure, Bob.” And Bear died in a fit of hysterical laughter. Objectivism was no match for Craig big heart and boundless generosity.

We will not see his like again.