Backroads Story – Howie Sardis “He was my hero”

I had the fortunate pleasure to have Tad as my leader on MKUQ. Although I'm embarassed to say that I literally fell off the trail (with my ankle caught on a tree, hanging head first at a 45 degree angle with nothing but rocks and ocean below), it was Tad who rescued me.

I'll never forget the good humor, great leadership, and the overall great guy he was – RIP

Backroads Story – Joe Solomon & Kitty McDonnell “A little taste of Tad”

I had the pleasure of running a trip with him in Maine last August, and he was the quintessential co-leader as always - working as hard as anyone could while always making guests laugh and feel at ease.

My favorite Tad story was from training when we were on the mock trip. Tad was in charge of making coffee, and he somehow missed out on the exact amount of grounds to use. Well, a whole- bag-of-coffee-in-a-little-pot later, we were left with what looked like black wall paste. He proudly took a sip and proclaimed it a "taste of Tad." The saying stuck with us througout training, and we still joked about it in Maine last year.

He will be missed.....

I had forgotten the story Joe told. Not being a coffee drinker, Tad had no idea what coffee should taste like, and even less of an idea how to make it. We had said use 1 & 1/2 for the pot of water. We meant cups. All of a sudden Tad was in a panic and said, "you said to use 1 & 1/2, and I could only find 1!" He had poured one entire 5 lb. BAG of coffee into the pot and if he could've he would have added another... thus the black tar known as Taste of Tad was born. It was hsyterical. That was when I first got to know Tad, and he had me laughing ever since. Tad's best talent? He always got everyone to laugh- and that's the best gift of all.