lindsayanng

Hello everyone. My name is Lindsay Gulash-Branscombe. My father was Frank Gulash. Just a few short days ago, my father passed suddenly. He was an avid boater. He LOVED his boat, and even more so, he loved taking his boat out on Long Island Sound and up the river in Connecticut. We are from stratford, CT which is kind of part boater community and part typical sub-urb. As long as i can remember my dad wanted to have a boat, but we didn't have much money. He saved up and bought a tiny little speed board with an inboard/outboard motor and a slip in the stratford dock marina. He was so proud of it and went to take my mom out for a ride on it for the first time. They showed up and the slip and the ENTIRE boat was underwater. he was devistated, but didn't show it. He laughed it off and chalked it up to experience (dont buy a cheap boat with an inboard/outboard)

So years passed and he talked about buying a boat and spending time out on the water. About 5 or 6 years ago, that time came. He bought a 15 ft outboard speed boat. then the year after that he upgraded, and the year after that, and the year after that.. And just 2 years ago, he had gotten his dream boat. A nice 45 foot (i think) rinker with a bedroom, galley, and the whole nine yards.. flatscreen and all.

The funny thing though, was that even with such a BIG boat, he would like to just kind go up river in the mouth of the Housatonic, and raft up to other boaters and just hang. He never liked to really travel much, so the river or long island sound was his favorite place. He'd take the jet ski around, and swim a little, but usually just hang with friends and have a good time.

So now that I have told you a little bit about my father and his love for boating, i wanted to let you all know that we are setting up a donation in his honor to the Save The Sound organization. I was hoping that other fellow boaters would be interested in donating so that we can all make long island sound a better place. We plan on spreading his ashes out in the sound when the weather gets warmer, and would love to have a nice hefty donation to give to the people who work hard to clean up the sound. My father was a generous man, and we want to honor his memory in every way possible.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. And if ANYONE wants to contact me and learn more about the kind of person my dad was, or more about the Save the Sound donations please contact me through a PM on here, or send me a personal email @ lilmsscareall100@aol.com

I love talking about my dad, so please, give me the chance to show you how special he really was.

twofinbluna

Welcome, Lindsay. Sorry to hear about your loss, best of wishes to you and your family.

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surfcaster51

donate his dream boat.........I bet he would be honered

lindsayanng

if it were in our finances to donate his dream boat, we would have.. But it doesn't seem to be in the cards for us - but it's a GREAT thought. The thing is, my dad and my mom were ALWAYS together, so although my mom knows that his "dream boat" isn't something she could handle, she is going to stay out on the water and enjoy her summers. We want to trade the big one in for something smaller that we (the family) could enjoy. He would actually have been PISSED to know that we got rid of his boat and never went out on the water again.. Everything about him is also a part of my mom, and the rest of the family.. we will continue to have fun on the water.. maybe we can donate the rest of the money we get from selling the boat.. that might be financially feesable.

I have to say that the wake was phenominal. over 2000 guests attended and that was great. he touched so many people in such a short time.. I can only hope to have that kind of an impact on the world in 54 years.

So again, if you feel it in your heart to donate in his name, it would make our family very happy.. even the extra $5 in quarters you have sitting in your living room change jar would be more than appreciated.. OR you can go right to www.savethesound.org and make a tribute donation.. It very easy and you would be helping to keep the sound a great north eastern boater's retreat.

And again, my personal email is open to anyone with questions:

LilMsScareAll100@aol.com