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Garrett Churchill


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I shamelessly copied this from the neon list as I thought many on here would want to know-------

About 2 weeks ago, my business partner and best friend, Garett, was diagnosed with a golf ball-sized brain tumor.

Fortunately it appears to be non-malignant and located in a place where it can fairly easily be removed (to the extent any brain surgery is easy!)

On Tuesday, the best neurosurgeons in San Diego will remove the tumor in an estimated 3 hour operation. If things go well he'll be in the hospital for about 2-3 days and have a 4-6 week recovery.

Let's all pray for a 100% successful outcome.

If you want to send him best wishes, you may do so at gc@fluxeon.com. His wife Holly will be keeping up with this account until Garett can again do so.

I'll keep the list updated until Garett can come back online.

John

--John DeArmond Tellico Plains, Occupied TN http://www.fluxeon.com <-- THE source for induction heaters http://www.neon-john.com <-- email from here http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net

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I was waiting to start a thread today about Garett but saw the one by John last night and knew it would wind up here before I got a chance too, or a suspicion Gary would beat me too it.

In Garret's words, "well, it's not every day you get to say "I have a brain tumor"!"

For those of you that have had the pleasure of meeting Garett you know what kind of a guy he is, and that's pretty much what you get.

Garett's been my neon guy and friend for probably over 16 years. Long ago I came to the quick conclusion that not only was I lucky, but this industry has been real lucky to have someone like him in it. There are individuals that are in the electric sign industry who have a day to day life, there are ones that follow the industry, and there are the ones that, well....thay are the VERY few, and they are the ones that create and will leave behind a hand print.

Garett shouldn't even really be in this industry, we're just very fortunate/lucky that lighting and neon is more of a hobby to him than a means or a business model, otherwise he would have left long ago and built rockets instead. There is no real money in neon anymore, but it's his passion. When you have someone who's passion exceeds personal benefit then big things happen.

I still remember the first day I met Garett. I just had issues with a few neon benders for a national account that I had, and I just received a flyer through my fax for this guy who Id never heard of before but it said "Wholesale neon". So I thought, "What the hell".

Upon entering his shop which was quite busy with a few employees I was astounded to see all the equipment that I had never seen and never heard of before. He showed me his process and I was blown away. I mean, who aneals their neon? If you don't know what I'm talking about you'll find this interesting. Garett had built his own large oven and his company would bend their neon as usual, letters shapes borders etc. Then they would put all the glass on a rack and pop them into a large oven and get it hot enough to make the glass sort of gel. This would strengthen and return any glass that was weak or maybe had a chip in it return to new glass good as new.

Years later Garett got into post coating where he developed his own glass from mixing phosphors. Basically he was doing the same neon glass put out by EGL, Tecnolux and Masonlite....but just better...more proprietary, and lot different. What his company was doing was bending all their lamps with clear glass and whatever color that neon was going to be (White or blue, etc) they would later flow those phosphors down the clear neon glass and let it dry. The result was bright as hell. The machinery he used to keep these phosphors always turning (because you had to) was again, mind blowing, and Not Of This World for a sign shop or wholesaler.

Garett's Unparallelled Custom Phosphors. Elite's - "La Jolla Gold"
post-3-0-77219800-1372093552_thumb.jpg

Later Garett just started coating his own rare-earth and tri-phosphor glass for lamps he would send overseas and whatever he could locally. If any of you have followed the tests on this board "The Great White Hope", his tri-white was and IS the leading CCFL Lamp with his "Elite-65D" representing the Neon Industry being in being compared with the newer LEDs. We'll discuss it later and in another thread but IMO, the Elite-65D won the comparison in most categories.

Garett even got into creating barrier coatings wihtin his lamps so the merc won't crystallize in the phosphors, making the life of a lamp even longer.

Presently, Garett's been perfecting his Neon Roy or now named "Electra". An induction heater used to aid in processing perfect Neon & CCFL electrodes.

This industry and trade that we're all in is and always has been about "custom" work. This work Garett was been doing over the years is custom work, but now in a different, higher level.


Anyway, this is just a little bit about Garett, and just a chip off the larger surface oh who he is. He's been someone whom I've always admired....his passion and his fire in what he does. He's been that person in the industry as I've grown with it that I've looked up to.


Garett shared this, so I'll share here with you. This is scan of what Garett's got in that central library he's got mounted on his shoulders.

post-3-0-55382600-1372091849.jpg


He's got quite a recovery afterward and ahead of him, he'll also be at Kgirl's hospital for the operation and recovery so she'll be around to drop in now and then to as she puts it "..keep the naughty nurses away for Holly".


I know Garett probably just finds all this "Interesting" and will probably want the surgical process recorded or will want to be awake for the removal for later analysis. I can also here him saying "This ain't shit bitches".


Well my friend, I know you're getting your lab/library scanned one last time today before tomorrow and I want to wish you a quick recovery and looking forward to the next beer which will have a different meaning.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

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While I don't know Garrett Churchill, if Erik holds him in this high regard, he must indeed be special. It is rare that there is passion that anyone holds for anything when it is detached from money. Stay true to yourself.

My thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery go out to you. That is the beauty of our USA, we all are connected, no matter if we know one another or not.

God Speed Garrett............

Best

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"Don't be afraid to see what you see" - President Ronald Reagan

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Great post Eric. I'll bet during surgery they will find that it is not a tumor but a second brain! That would explain things!!!! We are all pullin' for ya Garett.

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Great post Erik. Don't know your friend, however I admire his passion for our trade. I too, wish him a speedy recovery and will pray the doctors got their "A" game on today.

Edited by DAVE THE NEON GUY
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I've known Garett for about 15 years. Without exception he's always very gracious whenever our paths cross, whether he has a question for me or I have one for him. I visited his shop in the late 1990's and was amazed by both his passion for fluorescent lighting and his level of technical expertise. He's in a different league than virtually everyone else in the industry. I'll be praying for successful surgery and a speedy recovery.

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Don't know Garett myself only what I see/hear of him here. I have always looked at his type of man as a true Renaissance. His self coating of glass is very European not heard of here in the states. May God look over the surgeon's hands today help Garett get well again.

Kgirl don't totally deprive the man of the attention of those nurses just keep them away enough to not damage his relationship with his wife.

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