Stan Myers - Memory #2
Much later, in Columbia, we went on a business trip using his dad’s pickup.  We had to return the pickup that day, and the trip was long, more than two hundred miles round trip.  The pickup wasn’t new, and the gas gauge did not work correctly, but we didn’t know that.  On the return trip, we were out in the boondocks, and it got very dark when we ran out of gas.  We had no idea which way to go or how far to get gas.  We tried to flag down a few vehicles, but they all sailed on by.  I guess they thought we were up to no good.  Neal said “we have to get their attention.”  His dad had been planting soybeans, and had a large amount of empty paper seed bags in the bed.  We pulled them out and piled them all across the highway.  When the next vehicle approached, we set them on fire.  Guess what?  The next driver stopped.  After we explained the situation, he took us to get a can of gas and brought us back to the pickup.  

Neal was a problem solver.  He usually came up with a good and sometimes unique solution. I know Neal was a devout Christian.  I remember the day he was baptized in our home church in Memphis, Mo.  I have no doubts about his eternal destiny.  I will miss him greatly, but hope for a reunion in the future.
Stan Myers

Stan Myers - memory #1
Neal and his sister, Nola, are my first cousins—the only two I ever had.  My dad was an only child and my mother had only one sibling who was their mother.  So, we were a small close family living in the same rural area, and we grew up together.  

We played together as kids, worked together as teenagers, and shared an apartment for several years when we were in school in Columbia, Mo and afterward.  Neither one of us had a brother, but I regarded Neal more as a brother than a cousin. I helped him start a business in Columbia, which was very successful and lucrative.  Then, he got drafted and sent to Viet Nam.  That ended the business, and after that, we were separated by distance, but stayed in contact by phone and got together on special occasions. 

I could tell many stories concerning Neal, but two somewhat humorous incidents come to mind.  The first was when we were very young.  I was about seven, and Neal was about three.  We were on a trip with both sets of parents to visit a relative.  I had a collapsible drinking cup made of concentric tapered rings of metal.  It would collapse to about one half inch in height so you could carry it in your pocket, but pull out to make a sizeable container.  Neal was fascinated by it.  He asked if he could use it, and I said, “sure.”  He had the idea to fill it with water, put on the lid, collapse it and carry a glass of water in his pocket.  Of course the water gushed out when he tried it, and everyone laughed about that.  He learned that water does not compress that day.

I was also a co-worker with Lee Ann and Sid at Omni Resources.   So many memories of the good times and fighting those deadlines.    I am sad that I lost touch with such amazing people like Neal.    We were like family and not just co-workers.   You can't say that too often now. 

I will remember Neal's calmness under pressure.   Whether it be with a banker giving Neal a lecture regarding faulty software or a gear-head programmer  like me.  

But most of all I will remember that wry sense of humor through it all.    It saved us in so many situations.  

Our lives were better with him in it.  

I was privileged to know Neal for over forty years.

He joined us at a former Altamonte Springs banking software company to lead the Product Support area.

I/We would often present him with "delivery-ready" software.  He and his staff would always find ways to break it and give it back for repair.  For Neal--it had to be right.

We enjoyed travelling to customer banks around the USA, sometimes as a goodwill gester; other times to install a new version of our software in a live environment.  The customer would break it and again Neal would give it back for to me for repair, and go take a nap.  He loved doing that.

Above all, Neal adored and was dedicated to his family.  

For me, and countless others, Neal was a genuine colleague, confidant, and friend.

In the mid-1980s, Neal, I, and another beloved associate, left our secure jobs to create our own company to develop ancillary banking software and consulting services.

Neal came up with our company name:  LASINE Financial Solutions.  Everyone wanted to know what a LASINE was.  It was coined from the first two letters of the partners' names, ala 
LA-SI-NE.  Clever!

Our endeavor was quite successful, but after about three years, we decided it was too much work.  We folded it up and returned to our former company.  That box on our collective bucket list was thereby checked-off as completed,

Often, after hours at a customer site, we would find the best seafood or steak house in the area and enjoy a fine meal.  Neal would sip his scotch, I would quaff my cold beer.  (Never did we have more than one or two.)

Thanks, Neal.  You were and always will be loved by countless friends.


I was honored to work with this amazing man for many years.  He was a friend and mentor.  We had many occasions where we traveled together for business, and he had a way of making everything fun. One favorite memory is when we were on a project together in Springfield OH, and stayed over a weekend.  We went to see Independence Day, smuggling beer into the movie, sat right up front with beer and a giant bucket of popcorn.  We laughed  throughout the entire very serious movie. You are in my heart always dear friend.  Rest well.

OBITUARY

Harold Neal Kirkpatrick

December 14, 1942 – August 13, 2021

Baldwin-Fairchild Goldenrod/Winter Park Funeral Home

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