Recker's World
A tribute to an old friend
Cyril Fletcher, 1954-2002
When I was 10 years old, back in the late 70s, I had a great adult friend who was a bit of a mentor to me. His name was Cyril Fletcher.
He was such a good friend, I included him as a character in my early stories I used to write. That character would even use Cyril's favourite catch phrase, "Man alive!"
He spent his life in Huntly, New Zealand and was a genuinely nice guy who was always positive and had a joke. I would have sleep overs at his place sometimes and one day I even got to drive with him in his truck when he went to work, carting dirt to the Huntly Power Station.
He introduced me to 3 amazing things. KFC, Thickshakes and James Bond. He took me to my very first Bond movie, "Moonraker" starring Roger Moore. It was the coolest movie I'd ever seen back then. (I hadn't seen Star Wars at that point)
What I didn't know at the time was that he had Huntington's Disease.
Huntington's Disease is very similar to Parkinsons. It affects your brain and causes you to shake. However, it's genetic, so the whole family can get it. And his family did. His mother and his siblings too. His father, Norman would have had to watch as they all deteriorated before his eyes.
I met one of his sisters. I can't remember which one, but she was a big Hardy Boys fan. I was too. She would give me Hardy Boy books she had extra copies of. That was a big deal for me because I usually only got new ones on Christmas and birthdays. I remember that she was not well and that would have been due to Huntingtons. I'd say she would have been one of the ones that died around 1987-1990
On 14th August 2002, Cyril passed away too.
I last time I saw him was when I visited him around 1998. It had been almost 20 years since I had last seen him as a child. He was married and his Huntingtons Disease was at an advanced stage. It was difficult to see him shaking so much. The guy I once knew as a kid, deteriorating so badly.
It was my intention to keep in regular contact with him after that visit, but as is so often the case, good intentions remain good intentions and I never did see him again.
It was only recently that I learnt of his death. (Over 20 years later). I was thinking of waiting until 2022 to make this tribute, but had to do it now.
My old friend Cyril will never be forgotten.
(14 July 2021)
Recker (Sunday, 08 August 2021 21:02)
Thanks! I wonder if Hazel might be the sister I met those few times. She was living in Huntly back then and may have been living with a parent. I can't recall exactly.
theresa (Thursday, 05 August 2021 17:44)
Awesome tribute, and wonderful for me and my family to learn more about Cyril. I would visit him in the rest-home where I'd also see his sister, Hazel. I adopted her son when the disease became too much for her.