Words from Tony's Funeral, Memories and Laughs

Our friend Rick James spoke at Tony's funeral and was kind enough to share his words with us...

[Written December 16, 2008 by Rick James]

Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the Ringer Family for asking me to say a few words about my friend Tony.  I’d been thinking about all the good times we had together since I saw him a couple of week’s ago.  As all these memories came back, there were a great many of them that are probably not for public consumption.  I’ve decided on a few to illustrate the time I spent with Anthony Dean Ringer... aka Jaws T. Mahoney.  You can all figure out where the Jaws came from.

I first met Tony in early 1985 when I started work at Simmonds.  Stretchy Boots had hired me and he put me in a cube with Tony.  We hit it off right off the bat.  We were both young and foolish.  It’s a good thing we didn’t have Internet access then.  Tony taught me about the Book of Lies, how to use Bob Mitchell's periscope, and a little bit of printed circuit board design.  We always joked back and forth about how easy PCB designs must be since the world was flat to them and us mechanical types worked in three dimensions.  We worked hard and played even harder.

Simmonds decided to send some of us to a conference in Nashville.  For those of you who knew Tony, the only thing scarier than seeing him at work was to be out in public with him.  You never knew what he might do or say, but you knew it would be funny.  We got to Nashville and checked into the hotel.  As self appointed social director, Tony was looking through the phone book to find a good restaurant.  He looked up and yelled, “We’re going to Hooters!  There are two of them in Nashville.”  Off we went.  He couldn’t wait to get there.  As soon as the waitress came over to our table, he took over and started the charm.  Before our food came, he had all the waitresses out on the back deck leaning all over him for pictures.  And yes, he did have a big grin on his face!  He had that picture in his office and I saw it again last night on his picture board.  It’s funny how I remember these things, but nothing about the conference.  It’s because Tony was there.

We started playing golf together.  We both sucked at golf (and still do), but we always enjoyed ourselves.  A bunch of us at work would buy Vt. Lung Cards and either four or eight of us would leave work early and go and terrorize a different area course every week during the summer.  This was probably the best thing for everyone involved, since we didn’t know anyone at these places and by the time we’d played eighteen holes, they didn’t want us back anytime soon.  There might have been a few beverages in our cart.  I recall a wayward tee shot of mine at Proctor-Pittsford that just happened to go a little left, and just happened to hit the yellow line on the road, and then just happened to hit a van in the grill.  As the driver slammed on his brakes and rolled down his window to yell at me, my friend Tony decided to help out the situation.  He yells “His name is Rick James, 60 Notch Road, Bristol, 453-3401”.  Thanks Tony.  That’s what a friend is for.

Simmonds/Hercules/BFG whoever it was at the time, sent Tony, Moe Boucher, Chris Dearborn and myself us on another trip to Boston to a conference.  That may not have been the safest choice.  Tony was driving a rental van and we promptly removed the middle seat so we’d have room for the coolers.  We made a pit stop in Ripton to see Gilberto Ramirez.  The trip to Boston took us somewhere in the vicinity of 6 or 7 hours.  Once again, we were in public and being with Tony would surely bring some humor.  We visited the Boston Science Museum as a group event one night.  That’s where I saw Tony’s artistic flair.  There was a sand pendulum hanging from the ceiling to illustrate the movement of the Earth.  Tony decided to have some fun and scooped up all the sand, put it back in the pendulum and then proceeded to write a couple of bad words with the sand.  We then all stood back and watched the expressions on complete stranger’s faces.  Some people laughed, some didn’t.   We did.  Once again, he didn’t disappoint us.  I can’t go into many more details about this trip, except to say there was a beer can gravity experiment and a trip to the hospital for a minor injury.

Tony was always willing to lend a hand and help out.  I remember a time when our computer room air conditioner was having some issues.  I’d asked him if he would go in check on it since he lived so close by.  My phone rings at home and Tony says, “Is it supposed to be 110 in here?”  Then he starts laughing and giggling.

Tony also had a serious side to him.  You would see it when he spoke about how proud he was of his family and his work.  His family was THE most important thing in his life.  The way he and Wendy raised their family is a testament to his devotion and strength.   Wendy, you were Tony’s best friend.

Ashley and Jake, you were your Dad’s crowning achievements.  He always worked hard to make sure you always had what you needed.  It may have not always been what you wanted, but it was what you needed.  Whenever either of you did something notable, he was quick to let everyone around him know how proud he was of both of you.  Remember your Dad as a person who lived life to its fullest and made sure everyone around him did the same.

He never wavered on what he believed in.  He would always stand up for what he thought was right.  I saw this first hand when many an engineer came to tell Tony what great ideas they had to design something.  There was usually a short discussion led by Tony about how he was going to do it.  The engineer would leave, Tony would utter an unrepeatable word or two and he’d design the board the way he knew it needed to be done.  They often went away with their tails between their legs.  The job got done right.  He knew his business.

By now Tony has met up with his Mom and Dad.  He and his Dad have gone fishing and they’ve come back with at least a pail full.  I’m pretty sure the next thing on his list was a card game with Stretchy Boots.

Rest in peace my friend.