In Memory of Terry Cowan

Terry Cowan - An Ordinary Man with an Extraordinary Passion

February, 2005

It is always tempting to dismiss ordinary men and women as not having a big impact on the larger scheme of life. It is also easy to note prominent figures who do make their global mark, as being much larger than life. But sometimes, otherwise ordinary people can influence more than they might think when they begin a journey born out of a passion.

Terry Cowan was such a man. Terry was an ordinary man - the same as most of us. He had trouble staying focused. He forgot to do things he had promised to do. He agreed too readily to help others; and then got bogged down. Some of this was evident on the MSA discussion list but this statement is based mostly on Terry's self assessment in his private communications. Many times he said he thought he was missing the mark and running off in too many directions at once.

But what Terry may have lacked in organizational skills, he more than made up for in passion and personality. It was his passion, his people skills, and his genuine caring which propelled him beyond being average in his contributions to the metal shaping community, its recent revival, and particularly his gift of the Metalshapers Association.

MSA is still half a year away from its 5th birthday but the idea for its arrival had been building in Terry's dreams for years. In the past, a few others had tried to unite metal shapers through printed newsletters, but production and distribution costs were high and most eventually passed into oblivion. Among other things during his life, Terry had been involved with computers and could see the potential to unite people through free e-mail communication. At the same time the Internet was maturing. Terry had also sold fasteners and rust treatment products to the old car restoration market and he had written a book on leading. Along the way, he continued adding to his vast collection of metal shaping and body tools. Over the years, he had made many contacts and friends and his desire mounted to bring everyone together to share knowledge and experience in open discussion.

In 1999, in an interview for Indulge magazine, Terry publicly revealed his dreams but it would be some time later before it all finally came together. Terry's computer auction business provided him with the vehicle to begin making his dream a reality. He started posting tool photos on his website and he began a series of private discussions by e-mail with friends and acquaintances.

Terry had invested heavily in website building software to run and extend his online auction business. The software developers announced some modules to include much easier photo hosting, group forums, and self-publishing tools for personal member web pages. Terry saw the potential to use these systems to unite metal shapers in a global cyber-community. Most of this is taken for granted today, but it was still very much an emerging concept when Terry put his personal money into the new software modules and he began to put many hours into learning how to configure and use it. Unfortunately, the software was not ready for most non-computer-literate users and its awkward interface and bugs slowed the difficult process even more. As time passed, bugs were fixed and features were added and improved - but at a price. So much time elapsed between testing and fixes, that Terry was faced with paying for upgrades in order to get closer to his dream.

Meanwhile, a small start-up company - called e-Groups - had grown to a reasonable size and their free groupware offered a good ready-made system to temporarily replace Terry's private e-mail list. So on April 6th of 2000, Terry set up the Metalshapers Association on e-Groups and pre-loaded it with names of some friends and contacts who had asked to be included. He also sent out scores of invitations to others. And the rest, as they say, is history - almost five years of it.

Terry assumed the position of list owner and chief moderator, but as membership mushroomed, he enlisted the help of a few moderators. And as membership grew even more, so did the number of volunteer moderators. The e-Groups list worked well to unite everyone but it did not provide all the functionality which Terry had always envisioned.

So Terry continued working behind the scenes with the site software developers. Subsequently, Yahoo acquired e-Groups. At first there was little or no change and the group continued to flourish. Then small changes began to occur - followed by larger ones and then photos (attached to the e-mails) were no longer archived on Yahoo's servers. Worse yet, the oldest archives (including messages and photos) suddenly began to disappear without warning. Terry stepped up his behind-the-scenes work on the forum software, but he was not a programmer. Several volunteers came forward to help but, for various reasons, they were unable to continue for very long at a time - so progress was spotty.

During that tumultuous time, Terry came under criticism for perceived lack of direction, but, to his credit, he chose to refrain from open debate on the list. Few knew the full extent of the time he was putting in behind the scenes - nor the financial cost. The site was not built on freeware technology because when it was begun, suitable freeware was not sufficiently advanced to satisfy Terry's dreams for the future. And, as the Yahoo changes proved - free is often worth what you pay for it. Terry had the vision to see that at the outset. It wasn't until 2004 that a large portion of the site started working. Thankfully, Terry was still with us to see much of his dream coming to fruition.

Terry had even more personal plans for the future growth of MSA but he also kept in constant contact with long-time moderators and a small group of MSA advisors. In addition, individual members offered ideas and suggestions. Terry always tried extremely hard to incorporate as many of them as possible.

Terry was an inspiration in his passion for metalshaping. He went out of his way to encourage beginners - both on the list and in countless private e-mails. He may not have been a consummate expert in all things metal shaping, but he had "fire in his belly" for MSA and at its core was his desire for it to be a group effort and to be an extended family.

This site is dedicated to his memory. He is greatly missed.