I know Remco since 1988, from our high school in Uden. In 1990 we both went to Eindhoven University where often we followed the same lectures. During the breaks and at the end of the day, we often had nice discussions about electronics, computers, ms-dos, windows 95 versus IBM's OS/2, etc.
Remco was a rare combination of someone very intelligent, creative, nice and very down to earth. I have so many nice memories of Remco. I will share a few.
Remco, Rob, Emile and Bjorn visiting Prague (1991 I think)
Somewhere in the autumn Emile arranged a fully organized bus trip to Prague. We were students and luckily the trip was cheap, and kind of strange. The bus was fully packed with elderly people, except for four boys from Uden. Our hotel was in a suburb, where the signs of communism were still evident: Many ugly concrete buildings and supermarkets with empty shelves.
Fortunately, we soon discovered a good burger restaurant in the center of Prague.
Visiting Remco in America in 2011
In August 2011 Femke (my wife) and I visited Remco and Hiromi. As always their hospitality was great. Hiromi cooked a great, great meal. Later that night, Remco and I had a nice glass of beer and we brought back memories (for example our Prague adventure). One day later we all went to Las Vegas.
One of the highlights was our visit to "Rick's Restoration". At the time, "Ricks' Restoration" was a popular program in America about Rick who had a business in Las Vegas that restored old equipment (such as old Coca-Cola machines, pinball machines, etc.) to their full glory. Remco proposed to go there. That was super cool.
And this is Rick:
There is another photo of Remco together with Rick. I've never seen Remco with such a big smile on his face than on that photo. Unfortunately I don't have that photo (anymore), but maybe it is still roaming around somewhere in Remco's or Hiromi's archive.
Remco visiting the Netherlands, March 2019
This is the last time I (and Rob and Emile) saw Remco in real life. He was already suffering considerably from his illness, but for Remco the glass was still half-full. We hadn't seen each other for a long time, but when you're together it is immediately like in the old days. We talked, laughed and brought back memories until the restaurant was closing. It was a good night, a good last memory of my dear friend.
