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Troy Milton Byrne & Catfish-Johnson Valley-1982

One day in 1982, over a few beers at Jim Byrne's house in Lucerne Valley, the subject of catfish came up, and when I told Troy I'd never tasted it, he said "Well we'll just have to do something about that", and within the week he'd scheduled a day for us to go catfishin' at his friend Dave LaFon's ranch in Johnson Valley. The huge pond on his property was stocked with fat cats so Troy and I had another fine day together. We'd become close friends during the time Peg & I stayed at Uncle Jim's place in Lucerne. We both had young sons and spent time together with them at the Lucerne Valley Park and sledding in Big Bear. Slim, trim, and relaxed in his early 50s, I couldn't have imagined that Troy would die of a heart attack within a few months. He was absolutely one of the nicest, most down to earth people I've ever known. photo-Jim Otterstrom

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