Rash, Victor
VICTOR R. RASH: (Photo taken by Scott A. Molampy on Long Beach Island, NJ- sometime in the early 90's). Victor rented a wonderful little beach house one summer, a block from the beach, and generously invited many of us down to enjoy the shore together. Many sweet recollections of Victor, much like these golden, halcyon days we shared together at "LBI", continue to resurface...
Biography:
Our dear friend, Victor R. Rash, was born in Dover, Delaware on January 15th, 1954. Upon graduating from Caesar Rodney High School in 1972, Victor joined the Navy, and was stationed in Charleston, South Carolina and, later, Portland, Maine.
After the Navy, Victor settled in Portland for a time, and shortly after moved to Lewiston, Maine with his partner, Rene. Victor also lived in San Francisco, Wilmington, and later, Philadelphia, where he took up residence for many years.
Victor spent the last several years of his life in New York City (Manhattan), where he lived with his beloved canine friend, "Blaze". After a long illness, with many challenging health complications, our dear, beloved friend, Victor R. Rash, peacefully left his body on August 2nd, 2003 in New York, NY. Victor is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Camden, Delaware.
Date of Birth: 1/15/1954
Date of Death: 8/2/2003
Age at Death: 49
Education:
Caesar Rodney High School, Dover, Delaware 1972
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.
Churches/Spiritual Organizations:
Employment:
Social/Political Groups he attended:
City of Brotherly Love Softball League
Favorite Literary Works/Authors:
Walt Whitman
Favorite Poets:
E. E. Cummings
Favorite Musicians:
R.E.M.
Joan Armatrading
Joni Mitchell
Favorite Films:
Gone With The Wind
Edward Scissorhands
Favorite Plays/ Musicals:
A Streetcar Named Desire
Phantom of the Opera
Sunset Boulevard
Bars/Clubs he attended:
Roland's Tavern, Portland, Maine
Charlie's On Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine
The Front Porch, Ogunquit, Maine
The Phoenix, Portland, Maine
The Underground, Portland, Maine
Blackstones, Portland, Maine
Woody's, Philadelphia, PA
His family and friends include: (type your name here, and names of others):
Ed Cook (Portland, ME)
William Mills (Brooklyn, NY)
Scott Molampy (Brooklyn, NY)
Jimmy Griffin (NJ)
Jim Derham (NJ)
Blaze
[Skin]
Bernie Newman (Philadelphia, PA)
Rebecca Goodale (Freeport, ME)
Brendan Tierney (Freeport, ME)
Mary Pat Kane (Brooklyn, NY)
TESTIMONIALS TO VICTOR:
From William Arthur Mills (NYC):
Victor, nor I, were never actually really big H. W. Longfellow fans... but, since we both spent many years in Portland, Maine (Longfellow's native town- and birthplace) we always shared a sentimental soft spot for his "My Lost Youth" (Longfellow's recollections of his earlier years growing up in Portland). Victor and I were barely 20 years old when we first met. This poem so vividly captures the feeling of Portland, and our own youthful days there together throughout much of the 1970's.
For some reason, this format doesn't allow me to "cut and paste" this endearing poem into Victor's profile ("Thank God", some of you may be thinking!!!), but, in dedication to Victor, I'll just type in the first three stanzas:
Often I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still;
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I can see the shadowy lines of it's trees,
And catch, in sudden gleams,
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,
And islands that were the Hesperides
Of all my boyish dreams.
And the burden of that old song,
It murmurs and whispers still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I remember the black wharves and the ships,
And the sea tides tossing free;
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
And the beauty and mystery of the ships,
And the magic of the sea.
And the voice of that wayward song
Is singing and saying still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
(Incidentally, it was always that line about the "Spanish sailors with bearded lips" when both of our faces would erupt into a devilish giggle! -William Arthur Mills/ NYC)
