Farewell to friend: Sante Giulliani

Less than 2 weeks ago, I was fishing on the Henry's Fork in Idaho when a friend called me to let me know that our mutual friend, Sante Giullian, had passed away.  Sante was a well-respected authority on vintage tackle, especially bamboo rods, and a dear friend of ours.  I first met him nearly 20 years ago when he bought a Thomas fly rod from me.  Years later, I married and moved to the coast of Maine, and Sante lived only 4 miles from our house.  We spent many days traveling to shows, looking at bamboo rods that one of us may have acquired, and even fished.  In fact, I took him to Grand Lake Stream one October for some landlocked salmon fishing.  It turned out to be the last time he fished... We talked about life, fishing, tackle collecting, rods we owned or wished we owned, and sometimes talked about health issues.... Sante suffered the side effects of exposure to agent orange in Vietnam.  He struggled through tough days but always kept a positive attitude- never giving in to the pain he felt and he never expressed anger at being exposed to agent orange.  He was as patriotic as any person I've ever known.  We miss you Sante....