George was a wonderful friend. He became part of our extended family and shared many holiday meals with us after serving at Beans Cafe, He was generous and caring with many idiosyncrasies that amused and at times frustrated but made George the unique and wonderful man he was.  He is missed.

I met George in 1960 and he became one of my best friends.  "Idiosyncrasies"~??  Come on, George was a walking nut case and you never knew what he'd be doing next.  He and I turned 21 at Reno,Nevada and that was a night to remember.  I'd really like to know about his life  in Alaska.  Feel free to contact me at wayne dot tippin @ gmail dot com and I'll tell you how he got the name "Yuri"~!

I hoped to hear from one of George's Alaskan friends but to date, no one has emailed me.  Back in 2018 I had intended to cruise to Alaska & visit but a family emergency made me cancel.  George & I were both disappointed.  It would have been good to meet "Yuri" again & talk about our Japan & Reno adventures.  I miss my friend.

Well, here it is September 2025 and I still haven't heard from any of George's friends or family.  We had some great adventures at Tahoe, Sacramento, Reno, and Wakkanai, Japan where we learned that visiting Russian Navy ships had female sailors so George became Yuri and I became Banya.  What a night that was.  Email me at wayne dot tippin @ gmail dot com for "the rest of the story."