In case you have not heard yet, Jon announced that he has terminal 
cancer with an outlook of only 4-24 months to live.  The annoncement 
is posted on alt.music.saxophone and Sax on the Web (Misc. Section)
under "Tough news for me".

Jon is a giant of a man.  Whatever faith moves you, let us pray for 
him and his family.

Jon posted this message on a couple of forums on Mar 11, 2003.  
Sadly, he passed away April 2, 2003.  I think he set the standard for 
modern refacing skill and customer service.  He had wisdom without a 
lot of ego.  He openly shared a lot of his knowledge.  

Post subject: Tough news for me   

I have sad news for my friends in the saxophone community. I've been 
diagnosed with bone cancer that has most likely migrated from my 
lungs. They guess I have anywhere from 4 months to possibly 2 years 
to live. In other words, they just don't know. It's hard for them to 
tell how long the cancer has been in me and how fast is will grow. To 
fight this I'm eating as well as I possibly can and taking as many 
supplements that fight cancer as possible. Above all, I'm trying to 
maintain a very positive attitude. Cancer seems to feed off from 
negativity. I look forward to seeing spring and feeling the warmth of 
the sunshine! 

After all the snow shoveling I've had to do this winter, I thought I 
had aggravated my sciatica nerve. I had a lot of pain in my hip and 
back. After the problem didn't seem to want to go away, I went to the 
doctor. They sent me to have x-rays taken that day. The doctor called 
me the next day and told me the x-rays revealed bone loss in my hip. 
The next thing was to go for a bone scan, CAT scan and blood work. 
After all that they still don't know exactly where my cancer had 
originated from, but they do know I have bone loss and something 
growing on my lung. 

I could have biopsies done to pin point where and what kind of cancer 
I have exactly, if I wanted to undergo chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is 
a very harsh treatment and it will destroy the quality of the 
remainder of my life. With the kind of cancer this is, there is no 
chance of beating it. I don't want to go that route. They may be able 
to prolong my life, but I'll be very sick in the process. I'm still 
having a certain amount of quality living now and I'd like to keep it 
that way as long as possible. 

The hardest part of getting sick like this is seeing the pain my 
passing will cause my lovely wife, children, family and friends. The 
worst part about death and dying are not the ones who have passed. 
It's the pain in the hearts of the ones who are left behind. We all 
know that at some time or another we're all going to pass on. I'm 
ready to go when the good lord needs me, but to watch the tears fall 
from my sweet wife's eyes, after being married for only 8 short 
months, just breaks my heart in two. We love each other so much! 

I know my clients will be saddened to hear this news too. I've made a 
lot of friends through my mouthpiece refacing skills. Saxophone 
players are among the greatest, smartest and sensitive people in the 
world. I know this from knowing so many of you on a personal level. 
Few players of this great instrument are undesirable as people. 

I'm still able to work right now, but how long is up in the air. I 
will not work so hard as to shorten my life needlessly. Yet I love my 
work and I will keep going as long as possible. Some people might 
advise me to max out my credit cards and take the vacation of a life 
time, but I love my life the way it is and have no desire to see any 
other part of the world. Happiness dwells in the heart not in some 
far away land! 

I have many pieces here right now that need to be finished. For those 
of you who have your piece or pieces here, please be patient in my 
getting them done. I'm doing everything in my power right now. If I 
pass on before I can get to them, I have made arrangements to send 
the pieces back along with a refund. With any luck I'll be here long 
enough and find the strength to get plenty done! 

There's not a lot of money involved in refacing mouthpieces. The 
process, in the way I do it, is very labor intensive. I've been 
living from hand to mouth ever since I started doing this work in 
1993. I know that jazz musicians are the ones that need my service 
and they don't make a lot of money in the work they do. For that 
reason I've held my prices down. It's a drag to be broke when you're 
suffering a life threatening illness. 

I will miss all the good things this life has to offer, but I look 
forward to learning where we go when we die. If dying means eternal 
darkness and I cease to exist, so be it, but if there really is a 
heaven and I've done well enough to get in, I can't wait to hear the 
band!!! 

Best of luck to all of you players of the greatest instrument the 
world has ever known! Jon Van Wie 
 

Jon was a good person, and a great friend.  He refaced a lot of mouthpieces for me, including my favorite pieces for: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Baritone Saxes, and clarinet and Bass Clarinet.
          I made the drive at least 30 times to Jon's home.  My father came along on a handful of those trips.  Always good times.  My wife and I drove out to meet his new wife Rosanne when they first started seeing one another.  We spoke on the phone at least twice a month, many times more.    I miss him terribly.
 
      Jon passing put me (along with countless other) through some serious changes.  I have recently embarked on the long journey of learning how to reface mouthpieces...   Jon's own set of standards, and serious work-ethic made playing easy for so many people -- and knowing that they enjoyed his work made him extremely satisfied - and happy.
                I live in NYC and am mobile.  Would you be interested in teaching me?
 
Adam Niewood
aniewood@...
 



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Sent to me by "tullwinds":

Thank you Keith, for posting this piece on the one and only JVW. Hard
to believe it has been a year already since his passing. 
I am a first time contributor to this forum, and felt a need to
express my gratitude to Jon where sympathetic ears may be.
He and I emailed each other just days before he found out about the
cancer, and I never got to speak with him again. I think of him very
often. 
His eloquence in this letter bespeaks the way he lived; with great
respect of all life around him, and tremendous love for his family,
especially his little Hannah Rose. 
I was fortunate to have met Jon several years ago through Ernie Sola,
and spent overnights at his house enroute to my hometown in Ohio from
here on the Eastcoast.Ahh,those were great times! Jon's energy was
endless, and we worked almost through the night each time.I wonder if
 anyone got any sleep in the house,with full-bore tenor playing going
on..he got such satisfaction from making the player happy,that after
completing a magnificent piece of work at 2AM, he would say "what else
ya got?"  !! Wow, to be an excellent guitar player,which he was,to end
up finding within,a great talent for exacting the ultimate in sound
from a wind instrument! I only wish everyone here could have stood
behind him like I did while he was cutting a piece, it was like his
hand was made to do just that. If only not so many damn Marlboros.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my respect for a great man.

Our dear friend Santy Runyon also passed away at about the same time, 
early April of 2003.  Santy was still active designing new mouthpieces, 
and had just completed the Runyon Jaguar alto, tenor, and bari sax 
models which are mpw getting raves. 

After a few weeks in the hospital, Santy from pneumonia as so often 
happens to the elderly.

The last time I saw him, not long before that, as I walked up to his 
studio I could hear him playing from the Jochim Anderson 24 Etudes for 
Flute... at a very good tempo... on alto sax.  He designed mouthpieces 
and other new products, gave lessons, etc, until nearly the end.

Wish we all could have such a long and productive life.

Paul

Keith Bradbury wrote:

> Sent to me by "tullwinds":
>
> Thank you Keith, for posting this piece on the one and only JVW. Hard
> to believe it has been a year already since his passing.
> I am a first time contributor to this forum, and felt a need to
> express my gratitude to Jon where sympathetic ears may be.
> He and I emailed each other just days before he found out about the
> cancer, and I never got to speak with him again. I think of him very
> often.
> His eloquence in this letter bespeaks the way he lived; with great
> respect of all life around him, and tremendous love for his family,
> especially his little Hannah Rose.
> I was fortunate to have met Jon several years ago through Ernie Sola,
> and spent overnights at his house enroute to my hometown in Ohio from
> here on the Eastcoast.Ahh,those were great times! Jon's energy was
> endless, and we worked almost through the night each time.I wonder if
> anyone got any sleep in the house,with full-bore tenor playing going
> on..he got such satisfaction from making the player happy,that after
> completing a magnificent piece of work at 2AM, he would say "what else
> ya got?"  !! Wow, to be an excellent guitar player,which he was,to end
> up finding within,a great talent for exacting the ultimate in sound
> from a wind instrument! I only wish everyone here could have stood
> behind him like I did while he was cutting a piece, it was like his
> hand was made to do just that. If only not so many damn Marlboros.
> Thanks for the opportunity to share my respect for a great man.
>
>
>
>
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