Steven Malcolm Anderson, RIP
Dean
Steven Malcolm Anderson has died.
I am honestly too choked up to know what to say.
The black is for him.
* Update * The Queen is likewise upset.One of the biggest bundles of fun we ever knew is gone. :-(
* Update 2 * I've gotten rid of the black background. Time to celebrate Steven's life.
Related Posts (on one page):
- From the Mailbag: Stephen Malcolm Anderson
- Remembering Steven
- Note from Steven's Brother David
- Steven Malcolm Anderson, RIP
I'm so effin' bummed.
Well, SMA. For once I am all but wordless. I hope you made it to your particular Valhalla of beauty, intelligence, bravery and honor. And if such a thing were possible despite all the unkind thoughts I have espoused about religion in general, that you shall spend an eternity with your kindred spirit of G K Chesterton.
Which, if I read your correctly over the past couple of years, should please you greatly.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Au revoir, Steven! I trust you said goodbye to this world and hello to the next with style!
Rest in peace, SMA. Better yet, give the gods and goddesses a piece of your mind, and do it with style!
I went through a month I believe, where my posts were sometimes rather odd. I was on so many drugs for my rhum. arth including rather strong pain pills and too muvh of an anti-depressant. Steven wrote to me and we shared the problems of our illness and I told him I was sorry about some posts. He was also right there on the blogs to encourage me. He'd say things like, I understand what you mean.
So many of us commenting had a real affection for him. He was there to encourage others. He never cursed, he showed his anger in other words that let you know he was angry. He found words that were brilliant in his beautifully written comments.
He loved saying Hail to the King and Hail to the Queen! I am so sorry Dean and Rosemary. I know he helped both of you many times when things were tough for you. I am so sorry for you both, and can only imagine how you both are in a state of shock and grieving.
Arnold, yes he said he grew so much from G.K. Chesterton. We shared so many e-mails and it was in those that I began to have a love for him and I miss him, I have missed him since Thanksgiving Day, and now I will miss him always.
I'm bawling my eyes out, was looking forward to meeting him next Spring. He loved the Spring and so did I, and it is when we were going to meet in person.
I loved what Arnold said above, I too pray he is there sharing.
Up With Beauty!
Keep rollin' in the other worlds SMA...
In the future I will share with you some of our words of love in the e-mails we sent to one another. I hadn't asked for his home address yet and I feel so bad because I could send the family flowers or something.
Up with Beauty is a fitting memorial. I hope they find space for it on his tombstone.
Cyberhugs to all.
Here's part of what he said in a comment on November 26, the day before he died:
And here's Steven on Thanksgiving (three days before he died):
As Steven would say, "Blessed be!"
He will always be in my thoughts, and I think Dean should compile and post a sample of SMA's posts if possible. He will truly be missed and the world is a little colder without him.
I'm struck with the fragility of life. In our modern world, we sometimes forget that we all have a date with the grim reaper. Steven's death makes me take into account my own mortality.
The passing of Steven Malcolm Anderson should encourage us all treasure the time we do have, and use it to wisely. I know that I waste time that I shouldn't. Don't we all? But time is the one thing we all receive in equal quantity each day.
Have I used the time I was given today in a good way, or have I wasted it? Have you?
Hank
Rest in peace, Steven, 'til we see you on the other side.
Steven was the first friendly person, I knew on Dean's World. Total strangers were we but he was kind enough to acknowledge some of my earlier snarkings and encouraged me to continue commenting even though I did break a lot of china in my early days here.
January 25, 1955 - November 27, 2005 Steven was born in Kennewick, Washington, the beloved son of Samuel Kingdon Anderson (d. 1987) and Beverly Jean Clarke of Edmonds, WA. He was the beloved twin brother of David Matthew Anderson of Bothell, WA, and a beloved nephew, cousin, and friend to many. He grew up in Monmouth, Oregon, and was a dear member of the Central High School class of 1973. He moved to Salem and Portland, and then lived near his brother in Oakland and Fremont, California. He attended Ohlone Community College, excelling in his course work. In 2002 he moved to Bellevue, WA, to be close to his mother and brother, and briefly attended Bellevue Community College. Steven suffered from health problems which prevented him from working or studying full-time, but he overcame many difficulties to lead a rich and productive life. He read voraciously and was an expert in many fields, including mythology and comparative religion, philosophy and political science, and color theory. He wrote highly creative and original fiction. He was a long-time, confident computer and Internet user, and fully exploited the latter, not for shopping (other than for books) or entertainment, but to participate actively in a world-wide community of thinkers and writers who became devoted friends. He charmed all who knew him with his gentle kindness, modesty, humor, erudition, and wisdom. A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 11, at Beck's Funeral Home, 405 - 5th Ave S, Edmonds, WA 98020. (425) 771-1234. We will share memories and stories that celebrate Steven's life. If you cannot attend, please send your memories, pictures, and tributes to Beck's Funeral Home or to sma@3dmdev.com. An enduring memorial is being created at steven.malcolm.anderson.name. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Steven's name to the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, or the American Heart Association. Published in print on 12/4/2005.
Here's to you, Stephen.
You'll have to excuse me, I'm having a hard time seeing my computer screen through my tears.
Up with Beauty, SMA.
And I weep selfishly for our loss, for my loss.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family, and with the Esmay family. He's hailing you all from Valhalla.
:(
That's a big hole in the comments page, it really is.
Even when a man is forewarned the exact timing is never sure, for it has its own schedule. Even when a man accepts it, it acts at its own time. It comes when it comes, and to hasten its arrival is, ultimately, futile.
The tragedy is not that he is gone, the tragedy is that he cannot return to tell us of his journeys.
I'll certainly miss his postings here. If I didn't already have plans for today, I might go say goodbye.
>^.,^<
"Each man is a half open-door
leading to a room for everyone.
The endless ground under us.
The water is shining among the trees.
The lake is a window into the earth."
--T. Transtromer.
A terrible loss.
God bless you, Steven...
Ah, Steven...his style...
I shall miss him. May his version of the hereafter be all that he wanted it to be.
RIP SMA...
I'll miss him.
"Blessed St. Leibowitz, keep 'em dreaming up there..."
My deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family, both the real one and the cyber one.
I'll miss his wonderful style and sense of himself, and I think this place will never be *quite* the same without SMA.
My condolences to his family, and most everyone here, I guess.
Rest in style Steven Malcolm Anderson.