The Obituary Thread

[Shrykespeare]

Notable March deaths;

3/3 Tom Sizemore, 61, actor, Saving Private Ryan
3/5 Gary Rossington, 71, guitarist, Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/8 Topol, 87, actor/singer, Fiddler on the Roof
3/9 Robert Blake, 89, In Cold Blood, Baretta
3/10 Napoleon XIV, 84, comedy singer
3/14 Bobby Caldwell, 71, soul singer
3/17 Lance Reddick, 60, actor, John Wick
3/21 Willis Reed, 80, NBA legend
3/22 Wayne Swinny, 59, guitarist, Saliva

[Shrykespeare]

Len Goodman, the head judge on the American version of Dancing with the Stars for many, many, years, passed away on 4/22/23 at the age of 78.

[transformers2]

Singer/actor/civil rights activist Harry Belafonte died this morning of congestive heart failure. He was 96.

[Shrykespeare]

Jerry Springer passed away today at the age of 79.

[Shrykespeare]

Two Canadian legends passed away in the last few days.

Tim Bachman, vocalist and guitarist of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, passed away on 4/28 at the age of 71.

Gordon Lightfoot, the singer/songwriter who penned such classics as "Sundown" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", died on 5/1. He was 84.




April's notable deaths:

4/4 - Vivian Trimble, singer/keyboardist, Luscious Jackson
4/7 – Ian Bairnson, guitarist/saxophonist, Alan Parsons Project
4/8 – Michael Lerner, actor, Eight Men Out, Elf
4/22 – Barry Humphries, actor, “Dame Edna Everage”, Finding Nemo
4/25 – Harry Belafonte, 96, singer
4/27 – Jerry Springer, 79, talk show host
4/28 – Ken Bachman, 79, singer/guitarist, Bachman-Turner Overdrive

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Rest In Peace to the Godfather of our little community, Patrick Hodges aka Shrykespeare

Thanks for everything you did for us, from keeping the various games running when no one else would to messaging and emailing members when they stopped posting online after awhile to including all of us as he realized his dreams to become a published author

He was a great guy, and although many of us never got to meet him in person, I consider him a great friend. Rest easy, buddy.

[numbersix]

Lovely words, Banks, thanks for posting them.

How appropriate, and ironic, that Shryke was posting here, in our little group, about those who passed away, the very day he left this mortal coil.

And yet his loss means far more to me than any celebrity, obviously

[NicodemustheSage]

Fellow Fantaversians,

I am just heartbroken. Patrick, a.k.a. Shrykespeare, who I called, variously, "Shrykey", "Shrykester", and "Shrykey-pooh" -- that last, probably no more than once, at least, publicly, but he never let me forget it -- was my great good friend, my handpicked successor, and, for all sorts of reasons, one of my inspirations... A true, wonderful, empathetic, generous, and let us not forget hilarious, prince among men, who never met an enemy, and earned every one of his many friends. He was also a terrific writer, a prolific author, and an unexceeded lover and appreciator of music, films, and people.

I knew him, what? Seventeen, eighteen years? And not one day of those passed without -- should I have had the good fortune to interact with him, that day -- him making my world a bit brighter, more interesting, and funnier. He gave without counting the cost, shared without reserve, engaged without judgement. He was grateful for his life -- increasingly, as the years passed, and the burdens upon him grew greater and more difficult -- and his friends, and the things of this world that gave him pleasure, that stirred his soul, that fired his imagination, that instilled knowledge in him, that tickled his fancy. He was one of the most unselfish, decent, and genuine people that I have ever known. I was a better man for having the honor to know him.

And he LOVED this strange, specific, sustaining little community, and everything about it, and all of you. All of us.

I have no talent for brevity, and, in time, I want to say more, and will. But for now I wish to close with this: As he was my friend, so are all of you, no matter whether we have agreed in the past, what stones I may have placed in your shoe, what careless or idiot words I may have given voice to. The last decade has been hard on relationships, and too much has been lost. Most of all, time. I am sorry for any distance between us, and vow it will not persist.

I can think of no greater way to honor our fallen friend, than that we all, so much as is possible, reunite in his honor, and reforge old bonds in his name. I spoke with his widow, Vaneza, and his mother last night, and they are planning on holding a memorial for him, a celebration of his life -- and there is so, SO much to celebrate, my friends -- around his birthday, in mid-August. I plan to be there (in Arizona). Additionally, I know Nic (Spannaus) is considering hosting a Zoom or similar virtual / online get-together nearer in the future, so we can all share our happy memories and thoughts and maybe even some of the robustly unique silliness of ol' Shrykey. I will not be available next weekend -- my daughter, our oldest, is graduating from college next Saturday -- but I hope I can participate.

All of you are in my thoughts and in my prayers today, and will be, going forward. I can no longer embrace Patrick, but I can you, and I hope I have the chance to. And maybe to lift a pint in his name. (Yes, Pip, it comes in pints! )

Okay, that's enough for now. If you'd like to reach out to me, I am at

www.facebook.com/RickCromack
RichardFCromackJr@gmail.com
(972) 746-8575

(If you contact me via mobile phone, please text me first.)

I am now writing some of my memories of Patrick, and will post whatever I come up with, here and elsewhere, in a few days.

Until then, I remain, as always, your friend...

Rico / Nico.

[Screen203]

Fellow Fantaversians,

I am just heartbroken. Patrick, a.k.a. Shrykespeare, who I called, variously, "Shrykey", "Shrykester", and "Shrykey-pooh" -- that last, probably no more than once, at least, publicly, but he never let me forget it -- was my great good friend, my handpicked successor, and, for all sorts of reasons, one of my inspirations... A true, wonderful, empathetic, generous, and let us not forget hilarious, prince among men, who never met an enemy, and earned every one of his many friends. He was also a terrific writer, a prolific author, and an unexceeded lover and appreciator of music, films, and people.

I knew him, what? Seventeen, eighteen years? And not one day of those passed without -- should I have had the good fortune to interact with him, that day -- him making my world a bit brighter, more interesting, and funnier. He gave without counting the cost, shared without reserve, engaged without judgement. He was grateful for his life -- increasingly, as the years passed, and the burdens upon him grew greater and more difficult -- and his friends, and the things of this world that gave him pleasure, that stirred his soul, that fired his imagination, that instilled knowledge in him, that tickled his fancy. He was one of the most unselfish, decent, and genuine people that I have ever known. I was a better man for having the honor to know him.

And he LOVED this strange, specific, sustaining little community, and everything about it, and all of you. All of us.

I have no talent for brevity, and, in time, I want to say more, and will. But for now I wish to close with this: As he was my friend, so are all of you, no matter whether we have agreed in the past, what stones I may have placed in your shoe, what careless or idiot words I may have given voice to. The last decade has been hard on relationships, and too much has been lost. Most of all, time. I am sorry for any distance between us, and vow it will not persist.

I can think of no greater way to honor our fallen friend, than that we all, so much as is possible, reunite in his honor, and reforge old bonds in his name. I spoke with his widow, Vaneza, and his mother last night, and they are planning on holding a memorial for him, a celebration of his life -- and there is so, SO much to celebrate, my friends -- around his birthday, in mid-August. I plan to be there (in Arizona). Additionally, I know Nic (Spannaus) is considering hosting a Zoom or similar virtual / online get-together nearer in the future, so we can all share our happy memories and thoughts and maybe even some of the robustly unique silliness of ol' Shrykey. I will not be available next weekend -- my daughter, our oldest, is graduating from college next Saturday -- but I hope I can participate.

All of you are in my thoughts and in my prayers today, and will be, going forward. I can no longer embrace Patrick, but I can you, and I hope I have the chance to. And maybe to lift a pint in his name. (Yes, Pip, it comes in pints! )

Okay, that's enough for now. If you'd like to reach out to me, I am at

www.facebook.com/RickCromack
RichardFCromackJr@gmail.com
(972) 746-8575

(If you contact me via mobile phone, please text me first.)

I am now writing some of my memories of Patrick, and will post whatever I come up with, here and elsewhere, in a few days.

Until then, I remain, as always, your friend...

Rico / Nico.

You put that better than I could have.

[Buscemi2]

Jim Brown has passed away at 87.

[transformers2]

Ray Stevenson passed away yesterday at the age of 58.

[Buscemi2]

Tina Turner has passed away at 83.

And earlier today, filmmaker Kenneth Anger passed away at 96. His Scorpio Rising was inducted into the National Film Registry last year.

[transformers2]

Alan Arkin passed away yesterday at the age of 89

[Buscemi2]

Paul Reubens passed away earlier today after a six year battle with cancer. He was 70.

[numbersix]

Sinead O'Connor, the Irish musician (sadly) most famous for tearing up a picture of the pope live on TV in the 90s, and who played the Virgin Mary in Neil Jordan's excellent The Butcher Boy, passed away this week at the age of 57.