DW Cases Maker (Del Ward) Passes Away...

Hunter

The King of Memes
Silver Member
I just received some bad news. Del Ward, the maker of DW Cases, has just passed away. He was 75 years old and had a wife, Erma, of 46 years, three children and several grandkids.

A couple of years back, I had a friend that was a saddlemaker by trade. His name was Del Ward. By the time I met Del, he had retired, but he was still puttering around with different things to earn a little side money. He made recoil pads for shotguns and was pretty content to do something in the comfort of his home.

I had been out of pool for several years about the time I met him. I started collecting cues about this time and I'm a big fan nice, unique cases. One day while we were talking, I asked him if he was capable of making cue cases. I showed him a couple of mine and some pictures of some of Chas Clements cases, and he said he could have me a nice one in about a week. Exactly a week later, he handed me one of the nicest envelope cases I had seen

He liked the envelope cases, but after his first case, he said he wasn't too happy with the top flap and he began trying some new ideas. He handled that problem primarily with darts and braiding, and he eventually worked out the bugs he had noticed initially.

All of his cases are very unique. I am including a couple of links to threads regarding them. He only made thirteen cases before sickness and age took it's toll, and he never wanted to turn out anything that he wasn't proud of, so #13 was the last one. It seemed that when he was making cases, he actually inspired other case makers, who suddenly looked at cases in a different light. They seemed to transform into works of art, instead of the traditional styles we had seen up until that point. Jack Justis had always had an occasional case done in the Sheridan style, but you just didn't see many tooled cases that had this level of intricacy.

Best wishes in your new journey, Del! You will be missed...

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter
 

Rusty Melton

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just received some bad news. Del Ward, the maker of DW Cases, has just passed away. He was 75 years old and had a wife, Erma, of 46 years, three children and several grandkids.

A couple of years back, I had a friend that was a saddlemaker by trade. His name was Del Ward. By the time I met Del, he had retired, but he was still puttering around with different things to earn a little side money. He made recoil pads for shotguns and was pretty content to do something in the comfort of his home.

I had been out of pool for several years about the time I met him. I started collecting cues about this time and I'm a big fan nice, unique cases. One day while we were talking, I asked him if he was capable of making cue cases. I showed him a couple of mine and some pictures of some of Chas Clements cases, and he said he could have me a nice one in about a week. Exactly a week later, he handed me one of the nicest envelope cases I had seen

He liked the envelope cases, but after his first case, he said he wasn't too happy with the top flap and he began trying some new ideas. He handled that problem primarily with darts and braiding, and he eventually worked out the bugs he had noticed initially.

All of his cases are very unique. I am including a couple of links to threads regarding them. He only made thirteen cases before sickness and age took it's toll, and he never wanted to turn out anything that he wasn't proud of, so #13 was the last one. It seemed that when he was making cases, he actually inspired other case makers, who suddenly looked at cases in a different light. They seemed to transform into works of art, instead of the traditional styles we had seen up until that point. Jack Justis had always had an occasional case done in the Sheridan style, but you just didn't see many tooled cases that had this level of intricacy.

Best wishes in your new journey, Del! You will be missed...

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

I'm sorry to hear that, he made some beautiful cases. RIP Del.
 

ibuycues

I Love Box Cues
Silver Member
Del Ward

I just received some bad news. Del Ward, the maker of DW Cases, has just passed away. He was 75 years old and had a wife, Erma, of 46 years, three children and several grandkids.

A couple of years back, I had a friend that was a saddlemaker by trade. His name was Del Ward. By the time I met Del, he had retired, but he was still puttering around with different things to earn a little side money. He made recoil pads for shotguns and was pretty content to do something in the comfort of his home.

I had been out of pool for several years about the time I met him. I started collecting cues about this time and I'm a big fan nice, unique cases. One day while we were talking, I asked him if he was capable of making cue cases. I showed him a couple of mine and some pictures of some of Chas Clements cases, and he said he could have me a nice one in about a week. Exactly a week later, he handed me one of the nicest envelope cases I had seen

He liked the envelope cases, but after his first case, he said he wasn't too happy with the top flap and he began trying some new ideas. He handled that problem primarily with darts and braiding, and he eventually worked out the bugs he had noticed initially.

All of his cases are very unique. I am including a couple of links to threads regarding them. He only made thirteen cases before sickness and age took it's toll, and he never wanted to turn out anything that he wasn't proud of, so #13 was the last one. It seemed that when he was making cases, he actually inspired other case makers, who suddenly looked at cases in a different light. They seemed to transform into works of art, instead of the traditional styles we had seen up until that point. Jack Justis had always had an occasional case done in the Sheridan style, but you just didn't see many tooled cases that had this level of intricacy.

Best wishes in your new journey, Del! You will be missed...

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showth...t=Cases+Hunter

I am saddened to hear of Del's passing. He had a great talent and will be missed.

Will Prout
 
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