Farewell to my father...

[gap998]

"Byddai y gallai pawb yn gadael etifeddiaeth o'r fath!" (Would that everyone could leave such a legacy)

Love & sympathy to all your family from Wales.

[Soloboat]

Glen made it possible for me to realize a childhood dream. by the time I was ready to build a boat most plans had just lofting details and I thought I would have to find classes for me to understand this stuff. I happened upon this site and the simplicity of not having to loft made this dream a possibility. The Gaelic trans says it all. We all here celebrate his life's contribution to the amateur builder.

[BillW]

To Gayle and all the Glen-L family,

We were so very sorry to hear of your loss. And yet we know that you have much for which to be thankful,
in that Mr. Witt had a very long life, and a very remarkable career.

Mr. Witt was truly a legend in his own time; a very long time. I have been a fan of Glen-L boats for more than
half a century.

All the best to you,
Bill and Linda Whitney

[red]

sorry for your loss and also a sad day for the boating world he will truly be missed

[WayWard]

I know I'm very very new to this community. But I am terribly sorry to hear this.

My most sincere condolences.

[Ibrew2be]

Gayle and family:

Your father has left a marvelous legacy. I have felt for some time that anything any of us has achieved in boat building has been accomplished standing on the shoulders of a giant, Glen Witt.

Wishing you peace and comfort at this difficult time.

Barry

[garrech]

Gayle,
I'm so sorry for your loss, and so thankful for all your dad has done for us. Thank you for continuing his legacy.
Chris

[hoodman]

Hi, Gayle, I just found out about your dad. I am so sorry to hear about his passing. I'm sure that father's day was a difficult day this year. It was my pleasure to speak with you at length at G10 and learn a little about your dad. I'll remember you and your family in my prayers!

[PeterG]

Hi Gayle and Family, so sorry for your loss. Your dad has a wonderful legacy and has positively affected many, many lives. We are all celebrating his life and works whenever we build or run one of his creations.

[Gayle Brantuk]

I'm finally getting around to reading the tremendous number of replies, emails, posts, etc. that everyone has made. Thank you all so much--I can't tell you how much it means to all of us. You all are and continue to be a blessing to me...

[jenko]

Very sad news .My condolences to all your family , what an inspiration he was for many

[DSR]

I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing. He's been a big inspiration to me for a long time.
My prayers for you and your family.

Dave

[TAB]

He helped a lot of people get on the water

[Kevin Morin]

My Thanksgiving in 2019 includes my thanks for a man I never had the pleasure of meeting. I was a bit young to communicate beyond ordering plans but for someone my age they were a tad expensive. Growing up in rural Alaska in the 60's Glen's ad's were in some editions of Boy's Life and a couple of other magazines I'd see second hand here and there. They just thrilled me with the idea of being able to build my own boat!

One summer here in Kenai, Alaska my folks finally got to afford to build our own home but while it was being built we moved to another family's home on a lake that they weren't using. i could not ever have imaged the treasures Id find and turning point in my life would come from that very kind sharing of an unused home by one family to another.

The family owned a homestead on a large fresh water lake, but lived a few miles away on the salt water (Cook Inlet) so the entire house, barn and lake were empty and our family moved in. There was a barn on the property and inside the barn was the treasure of a young man's (12 year old boy) dreams.

The grandfather of the boys my age, in the family who'd offered their lake side home for the season, was a retired US Marshal of the area of AK and in his retirement he turned to making boats from Glen L Witt's plans! He built more than a few! They were stored in a barn.

Inside the barn, were half dozen small wooden boats, a punt, a duck boat, a couple little sailors and some small power boats. And the magic of the experience was finding, rolled up in old cardboard tubes; the plans. Some of the early skiffs Mr. Peterson had acquired lofted patterns to lay-down his frames; later he'd just used lines and lofted his skiffs and the full size Profile and superimposed Body was still visible in tiny nails he's used to loft the lines. IN one corner of a post of the barn (a spruce log), tied to nails with string, were a series of very nice spruce battens he'd built to lay down his lines on the larger sheets of painted ply.

At first I thought the shapes were familiar but couldn't make a clear association- but after an hour or two with magazines and the rolled plans I realize Allen Peterson had built half dozen of Glen's designs! I was in heaven.

I talked the adults into letting me re-calk (12-13yr old's don't have that much skill!) and got my father to help put in some replacement screws along chines and sheer clamps, and had two of the fleet ready to sail in a week or so.

In the meantime I spent every day, all day, glued to the work bench trying to figure out the details of making a lines plan turn into a boat! I was given some balsa wood by a teenage friend of family and started to copy the boats at model scale. Then one afternoon while rowing the 'duck boat' design out on the lake it came to me the idea of scale!

From that time on, I've been totally intrigued with boats, marine forms and the lines and construction of boats.

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for Glen L Witt's unknowing but generous gift to a boy those many years ago of elegant lines, well found skiffs and clean solutions to the many marine design challenges. I'm thankful for his honesty in design, for his lovely art that I still draw on when I create a new shape, and for his willingness to offer his 'stock' plans for very low costs to enable a grandfather to build skiffs for his grandsons; in remote Alaska.

Glen's lines and plans were the main influence in me going on to draw and build hundreds of boats from 2' to 40' which I've built of welded aluminum. Can hardly think of anyone I'll enjoy meeting, more, in the Sweet Hereafter, than Glen L. I still have some questions he'd likely answer - and if not? I know I'll enjoy the conversation.

Thanks Glen, for inspiring my life in boats.

Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[Gayle Brantuk]

Wow Kevin. Thank you so much for sharing your story and for all your kind comments about my father. This has made my week. Many blessings to you...