I’'m sure we all regret those lost opportunities, and I don’t have any easy solution.
But, remembering our colleauges who are getting on by keeping in touch monthly might be a start.
For now, using my wonderful MR database access (what am I going to do with my physical collecetion…ideas?) I found this:
http://mrarchive.mrr.trains.com/?iid=95075#folio=52
What became of this 14 year old girl, who weighed only 32 pounds and built (obviously with loving) a really good running layout?