Tragic news - NICO has lost one of its own...

[willg]

I posted this over on FA, but I will put it here as well.



I am mostly a lurker on this forum, some of you know me, some don't. However, Paul was a good friend of mine.

More than a friend he was also my flight instructor who through his sharing of an awesome appreciation for aircraft, taught me how to fly. We spoke regularly trading flying/car stories and whenever I saw his name incoming on my phone I knew I was about to hear something related to his piloting which always resulted in me being in awe of his skill.

I actually spoke to him just 3 hours before his tragic flight and he was on top of the world, after just flying a citation jet, and loving every minute of it.

If anything I hope his parents know, and I am sure they do, what an exceptional son they had.

Every-time I open my logbook I will see his signature endorsing me to fly, and remember what a truly great person he was.

Will

[Hijacker]

my god. paul was by far one of my most favorite, and one of the most well knowledged guy on these forums. I never got a chance to get to know him, unfortunately.

No matter how many times, or how close or distant to death I am, it pains me to see or hear someone die.

You will be missed, Paul. And your quote is never leaving my sig now.

[skydragoness]

Oh

And i will never forget the buzzard story.. from one of his many trips to orlando from the coast.

and his busted up headlight from the buzzard that lasted 2 months after that.

Was it a buzzard? I thought it was a crane. I remember Torry told me that story, and when i asked Paul about it, he got pissed that i found out.

It's amazing how many lives he's touched through this forum and all over. It's great.

[Z31T]

Buzzard? crane? i dont know. just a big bird.

Guys i cannot think straight right now. and am trying to figure out how to send flowers. where do i go.. someone direct me please. i can hardly see through my tears.

[EZcheese17]

I am sorry to hear that such a good freind was lost. For everyone who knew him and were freinds with him, my condolences. I know how you feel, I also lost my best freind few years ago to cancer. I didn't know Paul, but I feel for his family and his friends.

RIP Paul.

[skydragoness]

Buzzard? crane? i dont know. just a big bird.

Guys i cannot think straight right now. and am trying to figure out how to send flowers. where do i go.. someone direct me please. i can hardly see through my tears.

It's posted on the previous page, I'm sending some too. I cried much of this afternoon when i logged onto NICO and found out. I miss him.

[Rosco]

I only knew him from these forums briefly....I offer my deepest condolances to his family and friends. RIP Paul.

[sshawn09]

Dear Paul, I know your listening....

We have only met a couple times, but shawn talked highly about you back when he was in Sweden. I know we haven’t spend much time together but I think you’re a great guy. You have so many friends looking up on you, and that says a lot already about your personality. It’s sad you’re leaving us so soon, but you wont be forgotten Paul.

Where ever you are I hope you find peace and happiness. For me I’ll try to make something good out of life. I will always think positive about you. I don’t like saying goodbye, so instead I’ll say: See ya later Paul

Hugs and misses,Sandra from Sweden

[quiksilvia]

this is crazy, just another reminder that u never know what will happen so live everyday to its fullest, im so sorry to hear about this and my best wishes go out to the fam.

[WDRacing]

I will truly miss the spirited debates about the KA being a better motor then the SR.

What a great day this is. That's what Paul would say, no matter what the weather was or what situation he was facing. So even though we are saddened by our loss, we can be comforted knowing Paul Souder is having a great day in heaven.

I'll see you on the flip side Paul. Hopefully there's a drag strip for us.

Brian

[Mr1der]

better to doing what you love.

Paul's finally gonna get his wings.

Hope he can save me a spot up there.

[usdm_180sx]

My sincerest condolences to the family. His post about "basic mods on the sr" is what I live by...

[pgt892]

This is very tragic. I had talked to Paul quite a few times on AIM. He was always there to help me when my SR was giving me trouble. His help will never be forgotten. We can take solace in the fact that he was up there doing what he loved and now he can fly forever. RIP Paul Souder.

[crazy_spec_boy]

i never got the chanch to meet paul but from what i heard he was a amazing person

my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

lou

[MichaelSouder]

Paul was my brother, and I love him so much. On behalf of the Souder family, I would like to say thank you. The words you speak bring great comfort to my mother, and to the rest of our family. We love Paul so much and the sadness is overwhelming. He's in a much better place now.

With love,Michael Souder

[elwesso]

i hope if theres anything I can do (im somewhat local) just let me know.....

[arkman0]

I emailed pauls family the link to this website and the freshalloy thread.http://forums.freshalloy.com/u...art=1

this is an email from his mother.

Dear Noah,

I can"t begin to tell you how much it ment to me reading all those messages about my son. He was my first born of four boys and I love him dearly, thank you for letting us know it was there. But most of all thank you from the depth of my heart for being his friend. He is in a safe and happy place, his spirit has been comforting me. He had so many great friends and my heart goes out to each and every one of you, I know your hurting to.

Thank you,

Jenny (Souder) Dietz

[Onizuka]

I remember reading pauls posts when I was a new guy here myself, he always shared his experence without ever expecting anything in return. I never met paul but heard many wonderful things about him from those who have like Sean (needcafors13) and Christine (skydragoness). It was amazing to me that a guy that lived in Florida would go so far out of his way to help a fellow car nut deleware. Whether driving half way across the country to a friend in need or soaring above the clouds, Paul has shown us that getting out and doing what you love is what life is about. I will forever have this image of a man who lived, and did so on his own accord.

Godspeed Paul, May you fly forever in clear blue skys with a warm sun shining upon your face.

[Russell]

"So, when are you getting a 240?"

That is what Paul would always ask me when we saw eachother lately. Unfortunatly, I have not seen as much of Paul as I used to back in the day at the Bennigan's meets on Saturday nights. I don't get out as much anymore, but that did not matter to Paul. Like Mike said in his post, even if you had not spoke to Paul in months, he was always glad to see you. He always wanted to know what was going on, and what projects I had going. Paul was a genuinely nice guy and I am a better person for knowing him.

I have made a donation to the Make a Wish Foundation in Paul's name. I think that he would appreciate that as he spent so much time working to make his own wishes come true, as well as those of his fellow enthusiasts.

Thanks for the smiles Paul, you will be missed.

Russell McMullan'96 SE-R weekend fun toy'92 SE-R SCCA ITA race car'92 E daily driver

[JustinStrife]

I never really got to talk to him just exchange posts on Nico. But I always respected and took in everything he said on here. I felt even online that there was something special about him. That he was larger then life I guess you could say. I only wish I had been a member of Nico sooner, and had an opportunity to meet him.

Right now I'm crying over a person I've never really met, and there's a pain I haven't felt in a very long time. Someone like him could be nowhere else but in heaven right now. He deserves nothing less. After installing my Tanabe STB, I feel that he was the one who showed me why on earth it wasn't fitting right away over the bolts. Showing me what I wasn't noticing...

Thank you Paul. I hope you'll be there to help me from now on as you've helped everyone else, and help them even now. Everything I do with my S14 now, I will do with your memory there beside me. God Bless my friend and Nico brother.

William StevensFrom California with much love and sadness.

[neurovish_too]

Man, I have so many things going through my head that I want to say, but no real way to make sense of them. Paul was one of the very first nissan guys I met when I went I went to the Daytona24 with Rex, Torry, Phil, Cameron, and Paul. I really didn't talk to him much that first meeting, he was too busy hanging out in the MAZDA hospitality area with Torry

I have so many great memories of paul, working on cars swapping engines, transmissions, whatever, spending every Saturday night hanging out in a parking lot until 3am (or later), just sitting around watching movies with him, Torry, and Sean, heading downtown on a Friday, Drift Days....I always hoped we'd all end up living in the same city again after going our more or less seperate ways. Even though we ended up getting spread out in different cities, we'd meet back up for the not too infrequent car events.

It seems like almost everybody so far has mentioned his contagious enthusiasm and how he was always there to help out when needed...I don't want to just follow along with everybody else, but nothing could be more true...in Paul's vision, there was nothing beyond repair as long as you had a bit of ingenuity and a poundometer. A functional car was no farther away than the nearest 24 hour autozone ("well, the car will run without this hose here, if I just use it for a coolant line instead that'll get me to the autozone where I'll get something better" - Paul corner of 50 and Orange at approx. 2am one saturday). Here's the last somewhat conversation (away aim client to away aim client) I had with him last week:(12:46:52) neurovish: is there a trick to get the oilpan off a KA without taking out the entire engine?(12:46:54) FSIblows <AUTO-REPLY> : I am away from my computer right now.(14:27:16) FSIblows: yeah, loosen the motor mounts, jack the motor up off the mounts, and pull all those damn braces off the transmission. You can then work it off around the sump. You'll more than likely going to have to unbolt the sump to get the pan off.(14:27:16) neurovish <AUTO-REPLY> : Sorry, I ran out for a bit!

When the FSM and the forums can't tell you how to fix your car, a message to Paul will do the trick (as long as you don't mind using Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or Wal-Mart to get you back on the road again)

I've always been terrified of flying myself, but at the same time wanted to be a pilot. Since meeting Paul I wanted to get my license under his tutelage...though generally terrified of small planes, I think I could manage if he was at the controls. He used to say that if he had to go, he hoped it would be in a plane crash....his reasoning was that he would be so busy there wouldn't be any time for worry or fear.

Jason's picture of Paul driving along Bayshore after dday 1 is one of my favorites. I check his site, http://www.jasonsiu.net for a full res version of it and saw that he changed his homepage to pictures he's taken of Paul (the one on Bayshore is still my favorite)

[574-240sx]

OMG thats crazy. very saddening news, I was just talking to him a few days ago about buying his SC300. R.I.P. Paul. My prayers go out to his family.

[S13inBatnRuge]

now thats one hell of a guy for everyone to give props like that. autozone is my second home hehwish i would known this guy sounds just like a buddy of mine. can rig anything .

[MaineExport]

I had told my brother about Paul on a few occasions. He is a fellow pilot... formerly a USAF pilot. When I told him of Paul's death... he basically said that's something all of them live with every time they fly.... they fly because they love it.. but you never know when your time is going to come. To dwell on the possibility of an accident is pointless, and if you're gonna go it might as well be while you're doing what you lived for. We should live every day like it's our last anyway.

In the few AIM conversations I had with Paul over the years it was very evident that he was an amazing person... but to see all this love over these pages is further proof... he will live on in the memories of a LOT of people... all of whom are better for having been touched by him...

[Z31T]

i will never forget his rocking motion during a conversation.

he rocked and rocked and rocked. Like he wasn't listening. but yet thats all he was doing.. was listening.

[Z31T]

just a question.

When i was with paul saturday night. He had a New girlfriend with him.

Does anyone know of her? im curious if she knows.

He was very happy with his life. and seemed content with her. I said to paul...

She's pretty damn cute.. he says yup.. it was hard to find a cute pilot that wasn't a dyke. i laugh all night thinking of that. but that was his personality.

[klattr1]

very sad to hear. he always would answer any question that I or anyone else had.

i hope the best for those that were close to him. RIP

[Xero]

damn...just...damn...

[Nismo1182]

Mike, remember after his car got painted and his radiator fans didnt kick on when he had the AC going. The evaporator blew a hole thru the hood. It didnt upset him one bit. He just got another hood.

[Type X(J)]

my condolences and prayers - always sad to hear but atleast he went out doing what he loves