I had to laugh when I read the memory of Dan saying “OKaaayyy” in that Boston accent. I was on the receiving end of that many times. And now I understand it was because I had just said something stupid and he was trying to educate me. I will always remember how Dan said my name, stringing my first and last name into a single moniker - “Glennbunker”. Never just the first name.
I met Dan when when he moved to Alaska with AT&T. I worked for Alascom at the time. We only worked together for less than a year before I left AT&T. But we lived on the same end of town and had kids that went to the same schools so we ran into each other often at the grocery store or video store or kid’s school events. The last nine years of my career I went back to AT&T and I got to know Dan better. One of the things I appreciated about Dan is that he wore his geekiness proudly. I am a bit of a geek too. It is also true that he didn’t have much of a filter and when we talked he offered his thoughts - unvarnished. At the same time, he was self-aware and knew his manner could sometimes be perceived by others as blunt. I retired from AT&T just before Dan did. My son died in 2014. The first time I saw Dan after this, within moments of the conversation he stopped it. I won’t remember his exact words but it was something like this - “I feel awkward and don’t really know how to handle situations like this but I want you to know I am sorry about your son”. I told him “Dan, you just handled it perfectly”. He had a good heart. So, from a fellow geek, I want to say to the family - I am so sorry for your loss. He was a good man.