Readers continued to share their thoughts yesterday on how deeply Honolulu Advertiser columnist Bob Krauss touched their lives.

"The passing of an icon such as Bob leaves a void that can never be filled," Vivian Medeiros McFadden of San Diego wrote in a posting to www.honolulu advertiser.com.

Joel Kennedy of Hawi on the Big Island wrote in a letter to the editor that "We may yet see a column on what the afterlife is like. If there's a way to file that story, Bob will find it."

Krauss died Sunday at the age of 82 from complications from triple bypass surgery after chronicling the stories of Hawai'i and the Pacific in more than a dozen books and over a 55-year career writing for The Advertiser.

Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Falls of Clyde and Hawai'i Maritime Center.

In lieu of flowers, contributions to the Falls of Clyde through the Hawai'i Maritime Center are preferred.

Yesterday, readers shared their memories of Krauss — or the effect he had on them from a distance through the pages of The Advertiser.

"I first met Bob Krauss on Makali'i's E Mau Voyage in 1999 to Satawal," wrote Kainani Kahaunaele of Wainaku on the Big Island. "As one of the eldest in our group, he was often more energetic than us young 'uns. I vividly remember him climbing up and down the ship ladders off the side of the Micronesian coast guard ship Independence to get to the dinghy, go ashore and do what he did best — gather stories to share with the people of Hawai'i."

William Anonsen of Kane-'ohe met Krauss in 1963, on the eve of Krauss' successful fight to save the historic Falls of Clyde, a four-masted square-rigger, and bring it from Vancouver Island to Honolulu.

"I got to know Bob when I served as a rigger for the Bishop Museum in the 1970s, assisting in the vessel's restoration to return her to her former glory," Anonsen wrote. "Over the years, I and others in the maritime industry had the pleasure to work with Bob in the preservation of Hawai'i's rich maritime history so it could be shared with others to experience and appreciate. Bob was someone we could always go to in time of trouble, when you had a problem, however slight. He was a charitable, warm and wise man, always compassionate and understanding of others."

Bill Jung of Palolo saw a kolea Sunday morning at Koko Head Regional Park and said, "I can't wait for your column to tell me that somebody's favorite bird had again come back. Now I will never know. But I had to tell you that your birds are back. Me ke aloha pumehana."

Krauss interviewed Russ Matusiak in 1989 as Matusiak sat in Kapi'olani Park at the end of the Honolulu Marathon with "blisters the size of silver dollars on the soles of my feet."

"We chatted for a few minutes, and a few days later, I saw my name mentioned in a story he did about the race," Matusiak wrote. "In April of this year, while leaving a local Zippy's, I was lucky enough to meet him again. We chatted a few minutes, and although he didn't remember me, he was as gracious as ever."

John Swindle of Liliha remembered Krauss' previous enthusiasm for bicycling and his work chairing a bicycle advisory committee for the Honolulu City Council that included Swindle.

"I stopped him on the sidewalk a couple of weeks ago to reminisce," Swindle said. "He said we'd been pioneers in our advocacy. Really he was. On this last visit, we agreed that neither of us had ridden recently, but he had a little bike and a place in Volcano where he wanted to try it. When I read his last column a few days later, about impending heart surgery, I hoped the bicycle might end up being part of his recovery process when he got stronger."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.