It has been twenty years since I met Nick upon his arrival in the department. Although we were in different specialty areas, conversations with Nick proved both intriguing and intellectually enriching. In the old days when we interviewed all applicants to civil engineering, a thought-provoking question that Nick usually asked the interviewees was something like “When an object rests on a table, the table exerts a force precisely equal to the object’s weight. Explain how the table discerns this exact force, neither more nor less.”.  It was mind-boggling. I can still vividly recall the way Nick asked such a question, and the varied reactions from the applicants. A graduation photo from 2005 brings the cherished memories with Nick (and other colleagues who have since departed:  John Macdonald, David Nash and Bill Smith). Their absence is deeply felt.