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A Gringo in Bogota

Interesting obituary. Too bad about the bike accident in Bogota, but pretty cool that the guy was still tooling around at age 80.

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BOGOTA, COLOMBIA: Alfred Bigler, 80, engineer at Six Flags

By Kirsten Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, November 14, 2008

Alfred “Fred” Bigler went from the mountains of Switzerland to the roller coasters of Six Flags Over Georgia.

A mechanical and electrical engineer, he began his career working on sky lifts in his native country of Switzerland. In the 1950s, he helped build an aerial tramway to Mount Monserrate, which provides passengers a spectacular view of the city of Bogota, Colombia.

But there were relatively few sky lift projects to work on, so Mr. Bigler also became an expert on roller coasters and other rides, said his grandson, William Sullivan of Washington.

In 1968, Mr. Bigler began working for Six Flags Over Georgia, retiring as director of engineering after about 30 years.

Mr. Bigler, 80, died Saturday at a rehabilitation center in Sarasota, Fla., several weeks after being injured in a bicycle accident near his home outside of Bogota, where he had retired. The funeral is 2 p.m. today at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Atlanta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Even when he wasn’t working, Mr. Bigler was ever the engineer, said his grandson.

“Everywhere you looked around his house, there would be a project,” he said.

Survivors include his wife, Stella Bigler of Bogota; a daughter, Astrid Vose of Marietta; two sons, Yurg Bigler of Bogota, and Alberto Bigler of Myakka City, Fla.; two sisters, Emmy Caninczo and Marianna Schnetcer, both of Switzerland; and six other grandchildren.

By Tinto (Moderator) (Trustee board) on Nov 14, 2008, 02:32 in Friendly Talkzone.

Tinto (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Nov 14, 2008, 02:35:

P.S. It must've been the mamacita he met and married years ago in Bogota that kept him young.

I wanted access to health care, housing and education, but, no, I get potholes, trash and silicone tits instead. -Desi.

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webmanco says on Nov 14, 2008, 03:12:

Riding a bike at age of 80, QEPD. That is the kind of foreigners we need in Colombia who go and had fun without scaring other foreigners and locals like other gringos in Bogotá do.

No hay extremo cierto o verdadero, porque los extremos opacan, enruedan, (lavan cerebros) verdades. Yotas

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spigrimace says on Nov 14, 2008, 04:36:

Some bicycle culture i learned from a mad welshman this week. UK types get all their knickers in a tizzy if you dont have a light on your bike when riding at night. They will yell obscenities out the window at you. I wonder why they dont simply get some reflectors. But I suppose in Colombia he is right as half the cars, buses and motos dont use their lights or they simply dont work. Note that the english racer above has a light. I learned all this after he drank about 22 Club Colombias in a 4 hour period and was yelling at paisas riding bicycles without lights in the dark around 8pm. Almost had to restrain him. Didn´t dare cut him off for fear of reprisal. That was some bicycle light passion. yaki-dar.

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Robert Scanlon says on Nov 14, 2008, 05:33:

"UK types get all their knickers in a tizzy if you dont have a light on your bike when riding at night."

Plenty of people don't use lights here in the UK. It is a pisser because if you hit one of them in your car, the chances are that your insurance company will have to cough up for it.

I've never heard anyone yelling obscenities out of windows at people though...

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Desi1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Nov 14, 2008, 06:01:

My aunt rode her bike several kms every day until at the age of 83 she was declared legally blind by her doctors.

My mum walks at least a mile and a half every day, come rain or shine, in snow or sleet and she's 89.

I know people in their seventies that hike on the fjords of Norway every summer.

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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dwmte7 says on Nov 14, 2008, 15:37:

i don't know if any of you remember the "shrine" on upper las palmas, heading for el retiro. it was a small/mediam sized shrine where visitors would leave an automobile head lamp. very strange. the last time i noted it, probably 15 years ago, there musta been about a hundred lamps piled there. wierd enough?

patriarch

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dwmte7 says on Nov 14, 2008, 15:38:

is your blessed grandmother still with us, morphus? GOD bless her.

patriarch

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