RIP Steve Gamble

It is with deep regret to let everyone know that Steve Gamble passed away on Saturday evening at home after a battle with bladder cancer. Steve was a fixture in the dive community both as a skilled cave diver and as the go to guy when your dry suit wasn't so dry or you needed a hole punched for a P valve and just couldn't bring yourself to do it. Per Steve's instructions he requested that there be no formal memorial service. That being said, I think Steve wouldn't be too upset if his friends decided to ignore his request and raise a few in his memory and to honor his contributions to the cave diving community. Plans will be made according to how much interest there is in a gathering.

He and I were supposed to do a lot of Kayaking, but he never got well enough to do it. I can't count the hundreds of dry suit repairs he did for me. Steve was the man to tell me 'TRASH THAT DRYSUIT, I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN' . He and I argued a lot over retiring my drysuits. He also fixed many of my older DPVs. He was a fixer of the first degree; honest, fair and worked way too much. He was famous for those running shorts he always wore too. I loved that guy; RIP Steve Gamble.

Anyone got photos of him? I have some but I can't find them (yet).

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Originally Posted by tj

He was famous for those running shorts he always wore, too...

Anyone got photos of him?

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I hope the photos of Steve in his shorts are filed away with the photos of Sid.

I?ll never forget my first trip to the famous Gamble garage, which turned out to be my cousin?s former home. I was a bit sad when he moved his shop to a commercial site, I missed visiting that place.

In that garage with Steve?s help, I rebuilt a Tekna, my first scooter. He gave or sold at extremely low price several parts, and I still refer to his handwritten note on which seal to buy from an AC parts shop near Orlando for a shaft seal. I can?t imagine how different my cave diving memories would be without Steve.

I learned to replace seals myself only because of some emergencies when he was too busy, and it made me respect his art a hundred fold.

Just a hell of a nice guy, and a shame to lose him.

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Originally Posted by fno

It is with deep regret to let everyone know that Steve Gamble passed away on Saturday evening at home after a battle with bladder cancer. Steve was a fixture in the dive community both as a skilled cave diver and as the go to guy when your dry suit wasn't so dry or you needed a hole punched for a P valve and just couldn't bring yourself to do it. Per Steve's instructions he requested that there be no formal memorial service. That being said, I think Steve wouldn't be too upset if his friends decided to ignore his request and raise a few in his memory and to honor his contributions to the cave diving community. Plans will be made according to how much interest there is in a gathering.

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No offense but I knew steve didnt want any sort of memorial. I am very much the same way. I think its slightly disrespectful to know what his wishes were and then completely ignore them.
I know we all have our ways of grieving but ignoring someones wishes doesnt feel right.
Feel free to flame me. But I really disagree with the notion. If you want to get a couple buddies together to drink a beer great. But an organized memorial organized on cdf feels wrong.


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Most of you guys were not around when Steve and Mary Ann got married at Ginnie in the early 90's. What is really funny, and I kidded him a lot about this, was the location of the ceremony at Ginnie. It was held where the bath house down across from Little Devils is presently located. Back in the day, that area was used for all kinds of ceremonies such as graduations, weddings and so on. So for many years I would say to him, and anyone who was listening, Steve, you got married where the second stall of the mens room currently is!! I told him to have Mark Wray put up a sign over the door so all the guys would know what happened in this very spot. Steve said that was a good idea and that everyone who saw the sign would think about him when they were taking a dump or whatever! How's that for a sense of humor? Steve was really one of the good guys!

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Originally Posted by Brent

Most of you guys were not around when Steve and Mary Ann got married at Ginnie in the early 90's. What is really funny, and I kidded him a lot about this, was the location of the ceremony at Ginnie. It was held where the bath house down across from Little Devils is presently located. Back in the day, that area was used for all kinds of ceremonies such as graduations, weddings and so on. So for many years I would say to him, and anyone who was listening, Steve, you got married where the second stall of the mens room currently is!! I told him to have Mark Wray put up a sign over the door so all the guys would know what happened in this very spot. Steve said that was a good idea and that everyone who saw the sign would think about him when they were taking a dump or whatever! How's that for a sense of humor? Steve was really one of the good guys!

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Pretty funny. I remember when Gamble Scuba took shape and that was the 1997 CDS workshop. I remember getting a price list of all their services, and going to Bell and dropping off some stuff at his garage shop.

Very sad news. Steve saved the day for us on several occasions with emergency drysuit repairs.

Mike & Tracy

Not many know, but Steve worked for Billy Deans down on Stock Island before he moved up here. I used to love hearing his stories about his days there and diving on the Wilkes Barre.

RIP Steve. He was a great guy.