10/01/12 It seems like yesterday when I started over the hill from atop Wolf Road to show up at Mrs Reys House to go skiing…I think it was 57 years ago...I was 8. Getting in the station wagon with the Reys, Natala, Peggy and Peter…it was a special Sunday when I got to go to Camp Mystic. I guess it was a day Schultzie couldn’t go. That’s where it started and then Mr Rey and Peter got me into the EYC sailing class..…oh I forgot the pancakes at the Reyburn house or the masses that I sat thru at St Julia’s. Funny thing, it all made me a better person. Guess what, Peter was one of my instructors in Sailing Class when I was 8. You don’t know about this , but we all grew up in that weird Wolf Road neighborhood…and I am not exclude the Adam family that was the center of Chaos…..we all grew up, went off to Prep School or wherever and came home and started our relationships all over again. From volunteer fireman, scuba diving on New Year’s, to piloting a plane, to driving way to fast in rented Ferraris, to loving the slopes as a professional ski instructor…to his work, but we always knew he had a wonderful wife named Heidi.......but after Heidi I think he loved sailing the best. I found a picture from 1975 of that handsome sailor Peter after we took one of our early wins together in one of the Lake Erie races…..look at these young bucks! After this Peter and I spent years with, as peter called her “Lady Jane” ...my Jane plying the racing waters of Lake Erie on the Brier Rabbit’s. He didn’t stop there and we moved on to more and more sailing over the next 37 years as we enjoyed out friendships on the water and he trained more and more young men how to sail. He was a bow man you know. After all Peter Reyburn sailed the Lake Interclub Cruise 49 times, probably 40 times with myself and all his sailing friends. His history and knowledge of our Erie Yacht Club went back to when men were men and boys were boys. Just to hear him tell the story about “the Cremation of Sam McGee” was enough to send shivers thru the young crews on the Rabbits, Aries and Nyanza. It wasn’t until the last year…. as the man that was supposed to be the last one standing….you know, Peter was perfect….after all he spent 19 years getting to know the woman he finally married…rarely drank, exercised, you know …perfect specimen…..did everything except buy a new set of foul weather gear…..finally Heidi called me and said she wanted to buy him a new set….they were 30 years old….guess what….he wore them on the boat….looked great….the old set….well on a rainy day in Ellicottville,JT and I were riding up the lift about five years ago…..ski instructor coming down in this ratty foul weather gear…..you guessed it Peter……frugal, unassuming, a friend to all and a mentor to many..…smiling all the way thru life. Peter Pentax could not have done any better. Our hero, fallen.. We will hold a memorial service for Peter at the Erie Yacht Club on October 20 at 11:45. Many stories will be told and many pictures will be shown but it can never end the story of Peter Reyburn for he was a truly wonderful individual that I was proud to have known on our journey thru life. (View Picture File) Captain Jim ...... There are tall ships and small ships And ships that sail the sea But the best ships are friendships For they will always be.
