Nick Russell a good friend of ours and friend to Gaylord wrote this article on Gaylord
The RV world has lost an icon. Gaylord Maxwell, longtime RV columnist and founder of the Life on Wheels program, died yesterday afternoon in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho following a brief illness.
We were with Gaylord just a few days ago at the Life on Wheels conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and at that time he told me that he has been diagnosed with Mersa, a form of staph infection. At Harrisburg Gaylord did not seem his usual self to me, though he did teach several classes, and received a standing ovation at the closing ceremonies.
After Life on Wheels, he and his wife Margie attended the Hershey RV show, and then visited their daughter in Vermont before returning home to Idaho. Soon after they arrived home he was admitted to the hospital. One e-mail I received said the infection had invaded his intestines, and his kidneys and heart were failing. Peggy Waterman, Gaylord’s longtime right hand at Life on Wheels, told me that he went into a coma and did not awaken. The decision was made to remove him from life support.
Gaylord had a vision for Life on Wheels that touched thousands of RVers, and made their lives better. He was a wealth of information on the RV lifestyle, and his circle of friends included all of the big names in the RV industry, both past and present.
He and I did not always see eye to eye on things, and we bumped heads more than once, but he gave me my first big break as a public speaker and teacher, for which I will be forever grateful.
I used to tease Gaylord, because when we first attended Life on Wheels as students back in 1999, I gave him a copy of the very first issue of the Gypsy Journal. He wasn’t very impressed and sort of blew me off. A few years later I was teaching for him in the program, and after each conference, when he handed me my check, I’d remind him of that day long ago, and he’d shake his head ruefully and say “Rub it in, Nick, just rub it in.” But I know he was proud of the growth I had achieved, and I was proud to be a part of the greatest educational program for RVers ever.
At the closing ceremony of every Life on Wheels conference, Gaylord would tell the assembled students “I believe each of us should have a reason to get up in the morning besides just having breakfast. I believe we all have a duty to leave this world just a little bit better than we found it.” That’s why, at an age when most men are sitting in their rocking chairs waiting to die, Gaylord was still out there in the trenches every day, drumming up corporate sponsors for Life on Wheels, badgering his cronies in the industry to cough up a few more bucks to help keep the program afloat, and looking for new instructors to add to the lineup. Life on Wheels was his reason to get up in the morning. And he did one hell of a job with it.
Rest in peace Gaylord, your work here is finished.
Gaylord will be truelly missed by Dan & I every Summer for the Life On Wheels and also in Yuma where Gaylord & Margie would stay in the winter time at Country Roads RV park. Gaylord had a big impact on how Country Roads was built and have a beautiful park model there.
