"To wipe away the tears
No more pain, no fear
No sorrow or dying
No waiting or crying
These former things have passed away
Another life begins today"

PSB 1989

That's lovely Tryst.
I didn't write this one , but I love it and find it apt really.

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL
.........
Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I, and you are you,
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by my old familiar name,
in this easy way you always used.
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes,
we always enjoyed together,
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effort,
without the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was,

There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligent accident.
Why should I be out of mind,
because I am out of sight.

I am just waiting for you,
somewhere very near...
Just around the corner...
All is well."

.Henry Scott Holland..................

Kelly, you're Dad helped build a city here and he did a terrific job. I hope the next few days are not too difficult for you and your family.

A lot of you might not know this but through conversations with Gun we discovered that we were both members of the Masonic Fraternity in fact both of us were Worshipful Masters of our respective Lodges in 1980. When a brother passes on if the family requests the brothers lodge will conduct a Masonic service, the following is from that service:

Soft and safe to, my Brother, be your earthly bed. Bright and glorious be your rising from it. Fragrant be the acacia's bloom which there shall flourish. May the earliest buds of spring unfold their beauties o'er your resting place, and there may the fragrance of summer's latest rose linger longest. Through the cold blasts of autumn may lay them in dust, and, for a time, destroy the loveliness of their existence, yet the destruction is not final and in spring time, they shall surely bloom again. So, in the morning of the world's resurrection, your mortal frame, now laid low in the dust by the chilling blasts of death, shall spring again into newness of life and unfold in immortal beauties in realms beyond the skies. Until then dear brother, fare thee well.

Gilly

Yikes, Gilly! That was beautiful!

I'm so saddened to hear this news.

My deepest sympathies to Gunslinger's family.

We never met but I respected him greatly. I would like to echo the sentiments of all that has been said here. Very sad news.

I was totally shocked and beyond words when I heard about Gun. Although I had never had the opportunity to meet him, he was an outstanding man and a person of great influence on many people, he will be missed greatly. My sympathies to his family and friends. We have lost a great man.


---------
Agnes (JTJ)

Gunslinger was always a very helpful and polite man

My condolences to his family

My sincere condolences to Larrys family and friends.

Kelly, you can be proud of the legacy your Dad left here at FT.

Sleep well Gunslinger.

wez

My dad was a pilot, and a bona-fide hero. I did not know this before yesterday. I was cleaning out his closet and found all his service medals. Most of you may not know what there were, or what they were for, but they are a very impressive array.

Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star with a V for Valor
Purple Heart
Air Medal - 4 Awards
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Good Conduct Medal

He was a US Army Master Aviator
Jump Qualified with 1 combat jump

This was my dad's favorite poem. We are printing up prayer cards to give out at the service. I wanted to post it here to share with all of you.

High Flight


Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high unsurpassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

We always knew he was something truly special, Silver, but what you've told us proves it all that much more. He was such an incredible person in so many ways.

You are so sweet to share your discovery with us. He really was a remarkable man.

And, that poem is beautiful. It's not often that you get to read all of it. Thanks for sharing it with us. I think it's wonderful that you're putting that on the cards.

I'm so glad to see you here, Silver. Thank you for coming here to help us in our grief and for allowing us to help you with yours.

Kelly, it is obvious from the outpouring of emotion that your dad was a well liked and respected man. And I think the discovery in your closet goes to prove that even more. Like Ren said in her poem (and hats off to Tryst, Gatsby, and everyone else that took the time to write such beautiful things) that death is not an ending, but a beginning much like when a catepillar turns into a butterfly. He has now speard his wings like the ones he enjoyed in that poem and is flying high!
May he rest in peace and enjoy the wonderful afterlife!

I'm crying now, Silver! Awesome poem. This has not been the greatest day, has it?

Thank you Silver for sharing that. Your dad was a very special man indeed. Far better than most it appears. I wish there were more I could say or do.
You have my deepest sympathies.

Jim

Kelly,

The only thing that I can add is that that poem is just like your dad was...truly remarkable. Have no doubt that the poem brings us that much closer to knowing exactly the type of man he was..warm, loving, gentle and kind.

Rest in peace, Gun...I have no doubt that you will have the largest pair of wings ever to bee seen.


-------------
Agnes (JTJ)

I was stunned to hear of Larry's death. He sent me an e-mail Sunday and I thought that the old Gunslinger was back after his hospital stay.

I had never met him face to face and I don't know what he looked like, but I gained respect for him over the years of posting here. We shared a lot of thoughts and exchanged e-mail addresses for off-line bantering.

His "tag line" on his posts was, for awhile, a quote from the High Flight poem. I asked him if he could send me the author's name; he sent the full poem, by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., with a short history of Magee's life.

Gun lived in Somerville, New Jersey. In 1961 my daughter was born in Somerville when I was stationed at an Air Force radar station. I might have spoken to him in town and never knew that we would 'meet' again.

Gunslinger used a screen image of an F-100 fighter aircraft flying away from the camera, into a beautiful sunset. This is how I'll remember him, flying into a sunset.

God bless and keep you, Larry. My condolences to his family.

Gunslinger was very nice to me back in the day. We very rarely agreed on anything, but he had my respect. I am truly sadden by this. His family and all of his friends, online and otherwise, are in my thoughts. Sincerely, Callie (originalcallie)

Just want to add my sincerest condolences to Silver Moonsong and the rest of Gunslinger's family and friends. From reading these posts I see that he was a very special man.

On behalf on myself and several former members of this site, we would like to express our condolences and extend our sympathies during this difficult time. We hope you find comfort in the memories that you have of him and know that he will always be in your hearts.

Keeping you in our thoughts,
anniedt, Fort, Haxson, JoJo, Leprechaun, Phellan, Sand, Scibug, splatt123, Tangledrose, Val9000, and Wooldog

Edited to add additional names to the list.

As a former member of FT, I also wish to express my sincere condolences to Gun's family and his family of friends at FunTrivia.

I know he was an integral part of FT and he will be missed by all of you.

Kelly, I posted the following message in the Editor's Forum yesterday but since you probably don't have access to that, I am reproducing it here. As you can see by the many posts, your father was highly respected, greatly loved and will be missed by people all over the world.


"I didn't know Gunslinger very well but he was very helpful to me when I first became an editor. I am so sorry to hear this news and would like to pass on my condolences to his loved ones. He will be greatly missed."

Thanks, MamaGoose. I don't have access to the editor's forum. Is it possible for someone to either email me those or maybe allow me temp access to read those? I would like to see them.

I hope you all realize just how much a part of his life you all were. His memorial would not be comlpete without FunTrivia. I know of one member coming up from Philadelphia. I hope a few more might be able to make it. If anyone else is in the Philly area, maybe you guys could get together and car pool. I would love to see you all.

I was thinking of printing up all the comments and putting them out for the Memorial Service. I have all his medals, his Bachelor's degree, some really great pictures, a wonderful large picture of him with his police buddies from 1961... I have his retired police badge... all of these will be placed around the room for the service. Any remembrances from you guys would be a wonderful addition for people to see.

You can post them here or send them to me in a PM.

Thanks

Kelly

My condolences and thoughts go out to his family and friends.
It's sad to read of this tragic loss. Though we never crossed paths in the short time I've been here, it's apparent from what I've read that Gunslinger contributed much of his time and himself to making this a great second home for many of us.
Making others happy- that's what it's all about.
RIP, Larry.

Gunslinger banned my IPS#(not sure if that is right) which was the same as some foul mouthed teen. It took me weeks to convince him I was a 42 year old woman (with the help of Mak and Cool). When he was convinced he sent me a nice apology note what a class act.

It is most moving to me to see the contributions of ex members of FT to this thread. I think that is much appreciated by many of us.

>>posted by ren33:
It is most moving to me to see the contributions of ex members of FT to this thread. I think that is much appreciated by many of us.

I would like to echo those sentiments.

>>posted by Silver Moonsong:
Is it possible for someone to either email me those or maybe allow me temp access to read those? I would like to see them.

Kelly, it's done .. have a look at the bottom of the Main Page. You may remember some names in there from your days as a mod and an editor. May your father's soul R.I.P.

Quizzyland submissions are suspended for the week:

FunTrivia's chief editor Larry Worth (aka "Gunslinger" on FunTrivia) passed away this past weekend. His tremendous contributions and presence on this website will be missed by all. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. No new quizzes shall be accepted this week.

We shall accept new quiz submissions again next week.

The FunTrivia Editors

http://www.funtrivia.com/quiznew.cfm

Very sorry to hear of Gunslinger's passing. When I was a newbie here he helped me straighten out a password problem (I was registered but my password wouldn't work). It's always nice to deal with a class act like he was.