Gus Poplowski died at eighty-three, surrounded by family and, according to his son Dale, at least three things in the room he had repaired using methods no manufacturer would have endorsed. Born in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1940, he moved to Amarillo for pipeline work in 1965 and stayed because the wind reminded him that nature didn't care what he thought, which he found grounding. He made his chili from what he called "the formula" and refused to write it down. His wife Barbara had watched him make it so many times she could reproduce it exactly. When she told him this in 2019, he considered it carefully and said, "You're probably missing something". He is survived by Barbara, his wife of fifty-eight years; children Dale, Renata, and Steven; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild who has already demonstrated a suspicious interest in taking things apart. Gus never met her, but everyone agrees she would have been his favorite.