Saying goodbye to my TV friend

[Charlie]

I'm sad to report that another true TV-repair man is about to move on to somewhere beyond our plane of existence. Bruce Lenassi of the previous Carl's TV in Port Arthur, has been in the hospital for several days with ARDS (Acute respiratory distress syndrome). He is not expected to live. His condition seemed to level out for a bit, but now it's getting worse, and after my last two visits, I'll be very surprised if he lasts another 24 hours. From what I read about ARDS, it's usually fatal. It's caused by an underlying problem or infection... that of which the doctors have been unable to determine so far.

Bruce is only 56 years old. He's never been sick other than an occasional sinus issue. He does not have a medical history and does not take meds. He doesn't smoke. He's been pretty healthy all his life until now.

Bruce worked in his fathers shop since he was a young lad, and then took over his father's repair business several years ago. As with most repair shops, the change in times and development of the cheap "disposable" TV became a strain on the shop's business. He was dedicated to keeping his father's shop going, but business just kept getting worse. After Hurricane Rita hit five years ago, the shop was just barely standing. He had to give up the repair business and eventually got a job testing hospital equipment.

I first met Bruce about seven years ago. For those of you that have been here on this site since then, you may remember my postings about finding many of my TV treasures in the attic of Carl's TV shop. Some of the items include my Sylvania Halolite, CTC-15 Beauchamp, CTC-15 Vislanda, Motorola 21CT2, and many other sets, CRT's and parts. Rich (Polaraman) also made a trip here and brought some goodies home as well. There are several of you that I've sent parts to in the past years. Those parts came from Bruce's shop.

Bruce was always glad to give me pointers and tips regarding the repair of these old sets, and was always amazed how I was able to bring them back to life after they had been sitting in the attic of that old shop for 30+ years. His first reaction to seeing one of those sets playing was usually "Wow!"

Bruce and his wife Janice stayed with me here at my cabin in the woods during Hurricanes Rita and Ike. We all sat around for many nights watching movies on vintage 50's sets powered by generator... some of those sets being ones I found in his shop.

It's always sad to hear that someone's about to make their big exit. It seems even more so in this case being that he's relatively young.