Criss' Ongoing Obituaries

These are people I shared varying degrees of closeness with before their death, listed in a sort of arbitrary order, in a vain attempt for the top being the closest to me emotionally and working my way down from there. Of course, they were all important to me. Ever since Rusty died, I have been particularly touched by death, and awed by its absolute finality. The thought of never seeing even one of these people again (until perhaps after I myself die) is mindboggling. I think I grew up thinking that death was reversable. That's screwed up, huh? It's not that I don't believe in my mind that death is final, but that I just can't get my heart to believe it.

P. V. G. - died April 28, 1986

Soulmate, he transformed my life before he died (at 19), and after it as well. 'Nuff said.

John Kohler-Britton - died August 2, 1996

I loved this man very very dearly. He was practically my father. He died of unknown causes, possibly heart failure, and was about 45 years old. See my poem Seed of Love.

"Ribbon" I. - died 1986

this would have been my first child. Pre-birth name. 'Nuff said.

Eyovah (Barton Wendel) - April, 2000.

A dear friend from the Otherkin community. There's a memorial website at the Otherkin.net pages.

David Ben-Ami - July, 2000.

A model for behavior, a true mentor, and one of those people who should be sainted.

Diane Burke - died 1993

My godmother. She named me Chris. My mother named me Tina. Strangely, Aunt Diane always called me Tina thereafter, and my mother always called me Chris. She died of breast cancer.

Rich P. - June/July 2002?

Former co-worker & friend, introduced me to a bisexual discussion group. Suicide. Sorely missed. :(

Frank "Derek" H. - (from Long Island, NY) date unknown

A reformed alcoholic (at least while he was at the hospital), he died in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver (a la Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode). He was a young adult (about 18-22) when he died. I heard about it a couple of years later. I have some pieces of his hideously grotesque artwork stashed away at home. Actually, I think there's one piece or two pieces that do not have violent and gory themes.

Rusty ?. - (from Mount Tremper, NY) date unknown

Fellow poet. Died in a car accident. The car ran off the road and hit (I believe) a pole. I was about 14 at the time, and he was the first person I knew that died. Having shared a part of my spirit with him a short time before the accident, this affected me profoundly. He was only about 18 or 19.

Dave ("Dave-o") - July, 2002

One of the offline Otherkin, seen at many a gather. Took his own life. :(

Patrice ?. - died 1996

Co-worker. A very sweet person. Too young to die of cancer (about 24).

Matthew B. - date unknown

My best friend & maid-of-honor's uncle. He died of a brain tumor at 19.

Ruth W. - date unknown, 1998.

I met her in my 8-month herbal medicine training class. She never told me she had breast cancer. She drove me home from class until she stopped showing up. Then, through a community newsletter, I found a poem by her son, in mourning, and a photo of the beautiful woman who was so kind to me. I have lost another friend.

H.K. - November, 2000.

The first person that I've known that I was on particularly bad terms with whom died to my knowledge. At least it shows me some contrast...and of course only emphasizes that one should make the best of every person and relationship.

John Hardy - September 11, 2001.

The brother of my favorite folk singer. I was at several shows over the years where he played accompanyment with <#> Jack Hardy]], and he is the only person I'm aware of who is missing after the collapse of the World Trade Center. He worked in a restauraunt in one of the towers. :(

Caren S. - 2006.

Died of breast cancer. One of my mother's longest friends, dating back to the 60's, she was there often in my childhood, a good influence on my life. I played with her children, and they had a very loving family.

Kareem "Lurch" Hanson (sp?) - Nov 2007.

Died in a car accident. An ex-roommate of a good friend.

Pets:

Tiger - cat (the closest of all of my pets)

Bandit - cat

Shadow - dog (actually, one of my ex-boyfriend's dogs)

Puck - mouse

Oh-cee (OutCast) - mouse

Tigris - a male stray who adopted us when we moved to Middletown NY -- we gave him a good home through the winter of 2005-6, and in the late spring, he disappeared. He also brought another cat with him, Jingles.

Jingles - in November 2006, Jingles disappeared. Jingles is an all-black cat who showed up, about 9-10 months old, after Tigris found us. The two obviously knew each other. Jingles had a red collar with a bell (so his name was Jingle Bells -- Jingles for short). He was quickly growing so we replaced the original belled collar with a red reflective collar, but he soon lost it and was very allergic to an herbal flea collar we tried out on him, so he went collarless against our better judgement. Jingles was very adept at climbing trees.

And all the other pets I have had (or known well) that for one reason or another either never had names, or never died to my knowledge.

See Also