He lives/lived in Texas and I'm well aware of the weather going on around that time since I'm just a bit north of the Houston area. The thing is, he was active after all of the major events of early June. He was last seen here June 24 (if I remember correctly) which was a "dead zone" between major storm impacts. I got the impression he was in the Piney Woods region (East Texas, north of the Houston area, well south of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) and the only storms that impacted that area to any degree was a straight-line system the first or second week of June, and Hurricane Beryl, the second week of July. There was also the remnant of the "A" storm (a TS, not a hurricane) the third week of June that impacted far South Texas near the border, but he didn't seem to be from that area based upon things he said here in the forums. So, last he was seen here was the last week of June last year, but no major weather events occurred close enough to that time for that to be the issue. I'm not sure how that story got started, but it doesn't track with the reality of the weather around the State at the time. My guess is that the "1969" in his name was his birth year (people seem fond of doing that), so he was in his mid-50s. Even if that wasn't his birth year, I still got the impression he was in that age range from discussions here. Granted, not terribly old (I'm older), but old enough for something medical to take you out, and he talked all the time about drinking every evening as he worked. I'd suspect health or misadventure, but unless someone within this forum actually knew the guy outside the forum, we will likely never know what really happened.