Otto Perry was widely respected and well liked by almost everyone who knew him. He kept his own company and made plenty of friends in his travels. Not a thing in the world wrong with any of that.
This is especially true since he knew he was preserving a time for those who followed because he could see changes coming long before almost anyone else did. He inspired many, including my own Father, to photograph and document not only the end of the Golden Age of railroads in America, but the end of steam as well.
Otto Perry helped found the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club and was truly a legend in his own time. He was missed by many of his old friends for years after he passed on.
In my experience, the community of railroad enthusiasts seems to have more than it's share of oddball and quirky individuals who march to the beat of no one's drum but their own. This is not a new situation by any means, and the total percentage of strange lone wolves is probably higher today than it was then.
It is not possible or in my opinion appropriate to speculate on the private lives of men like Otto Perry, but rather to simply appreciate them for the legacy they left behind. I know you didn't mean any offense by wondering about his tastes in private life, just accept that he, like so many others whose names we would all recognize, lived for his passion of photography and the love or railroading, especially the South Park.
It really is amazing, and I'm sure no one would be more amazed than Mr. Perry himself, that we can sit at computers all over the world and call up his pictures through the magic of technology unimagined not so many years ago.
