Unfortunate event

[Lingus]

My condolences to his friends and family.

I've played many other online games, but the Stick Online community is the only one that has a place in my heart. Even though we're only an online community, we have always been a rather small and close community. Losing Seifer will leave a hole. He will definitely be missed.

[Scotty]

...  Even though we're only an online community...

Was my BBQ'ing that bad?  I like to think we had fun skiing too...

[sayers6]

...  Even though we're only an online community...

Was my BBQ'ing that bad?  I like to think we had fun skiing too...

Feeling rejected much?  ;D

I can't believe this happened. I didn't talk to Seifer much, but I read his posts and he never seemed to show anything like this about to happen. Even though I didn't really know him, it's still weird knowing what happened and that you won't see him again. It makes me a bit depressed...

[11clock]

The death of Seifer is definitely horrible. However, the impact he has made is huge. His death reminds us that we are more than just an online community. We are a family.

Seifer's death reminds us of how much we care about each other. This unfortunate incident has created a spark in all of us. I may not know most of you IRL, but I know that behind those words on a screen are real, individual Human beings.

Let's not only mourn Seifer's death, but let's rejoice the fact that we are here for each other. Out of all of the forums out there, the Stick Online Community has impacted me the most, and it's the only forum that I keep returning to. I've been on this community for over 5 years, and I don't regret any of it. I love you guys. You let a disgusting worm like me into your community, and that truly shows how much Humans care for each other.

Seifer will not be forgotten. While he is is not here physically, he will always have a place in our hearts. Three cheers for a great community.

~11clock

[Lingus]

...  Even though we're only an online community...

Was my BBQ'ing that bad?  I like to think we had fun skiing too...

No, no, it's not like that. But actually, that's a good point. I can't say I have ever, or would ever, meet someone in person that I met on any other online community.

But seriously, everyone here, anyone who may be reading this: You are all part of something great, you all have someone here who you can go to for any reason, you all have someone here who will miss you if you go. Remember that.

[Excalaber2]

Greetings.


My name is Kraig Halmer. I am not a member of Stick Online. Rather I was one of the closest people to Frank Neumann.

Today was his funeral in his home town of Goderich. There were not enough seats for everyone, more and more people showed up, no one had a true grasp on just how many people knew Frank.


I knew Frank and I can say for certain that we was proud to be a part of this community and he would be blushing by the words that you have all said. I knew he was a long member of Stick Online, as with all the other games. I told myself that after today, I would post on those forums his Eulogy that I and Brent Schmidt had the honor to give our closest friend.



(( sadly I am unable to get a hold of the ministers speech, if I come across it, I will post it in an edit ))

----------------------------
((Kraig))
--

Frank had been the most amazing person that I've ever had to the chance to know. To many he had been a friend, those who knew him best, a brother and to an amazing mother, a son. His time with us had been short in contrast to the days that lay ahead and the wound that is open will one day heal and although it will never close it is how we honor Frank that will dictate the size and depth of the scar.

---

" What does one say?"
Thinking back on all the years that Frank and I shared together, its hard to recall any memory that is more important then another. They all merge into one long memory that forms a completed picture of his time with us. It's hard to choose one memory or story from another, they all flow into the next becoming an epic song.

----

Frank was an extremely smart and capable man with the ability to do anything. If ever he needed help with something he would not ask for help straight up. you had to figured it out. Frank knew I would do anything for him and that changed our friendship. It had been a few years back, he had been out of work for a short while and did not let anyone in on it. I had gotten wind of it. I woke him out of bed to ask him, why he hadn't said anything to me, why didn't he ask his friend for help or share with me his problems? .His eyes watered and he started to cry. up, and said that he didn't want to disappointed me. I was a bit taken back and asked why he would think that? and he said to me that I had become the closest thing to a father figure he could look up too.

That was when our friendship shifted. From being my closest friend to being my Son.. and even now I feel so strange saying those words. we were not blood, yet we had the strongest bond that two people could ever have and It was the biggest honor that I had ever been giving, second to being able to be here today to speak about him.

---

" How does one say goodbye? "

The last memory I share, is the last time that I had the privilege of seeing frank. Frank had agreed to drive me to the airport for a 5am flight back to base. The entire trip we made jokes on the road and i could see how pleased he was to show off his car to me. "Look at me" I could see in his eyes " I doing it, I'm going make you proud" they said to me. I didn't want that car ride to end. when we got to the airport we talked for awhile outside of his car. I was telling him to make sure he handed his application into London, I wanted to see him out there on the coast and I wait for the day I can see him in another fancy suit.He was just smiling and telling me not to worry. Then it came time to say goodbye. We hugged and I told him that I loved him, and he said it back and. we both had started to cry. it was evident that neither one of us wanted the other to go and painfully I turned and walked away.
That was the last time I saw him. My friend, my brother, my son.

"How does one say Goodbye" I had asked myself. How does one say goodbye to someone that had meant so much..

I think on it and I know that we both know the answer.
We already had.
We said it two months earlier and it was possible the best way we could have said goodbye.

So this is not farewell frank, this is till next we meet, when our words will be not " Goodbye " but " Hello ".


-------------
((Brent))
-----------
I met Frankie for the first time in the sixth grade, when I was ten years old. At the time Frankie was in the 5th grade and was shy awkward kid, much like me. 12 years, and more memories than I can count later, I stand here to speak about the life of my best friend and a wonderful man. For the last 12 years, he has been my rock, my brother and of course, my slightly annoyed but always obliging 24 hour tech support.

I think it?s important here to mention how I plan on going about this. About two years ago, in a conversation I remember quite well, me and Frankie discussed what we thought our funerals would look like. We wondered how people would remember us and what people would say when we were gone. Me and Frankie were inspired by a book we both love, a novel called Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card which focuses around the life of a man who would speak at funerals and instead of speaking grandly about those he would speak for, would tell the truth about that person?s life. This was something that resonated with both of us, and we agreed that if either of us ever had the misfortune of having to speak at the others funeral, that we would take the same approach.

As a friend, Frankie was all that anyone could ask for. Beyond the 3 am calls begging for him to tell him some way to fix my always broken computer, he was always there for me any time I could ask for regardless of the circumstance and was more times than not my escape. There were points when we were both in school when we wouldn?t speak for weeks at a time, which for us was incredible... yet despite that, if I messaged him at 5 am asking if he had heard Coheed were releasing a new album, he would be sure to reply in a timely manner with the appropriate amount of excitement or to simply tell me as usual that I was way behind and that he had heard a week ago. He was also totally willing to indulge me in any of my crazy adventures and would happily come with me. At the age of 14, I thought it would be a great idea to trek across the country on a greyhound bus to visit one of our best friends, James, who had just moved away, and live with him for a few months. He never called me stupid or stopped to wonder what our parents would think, he just asked me when. 5 of my top 10 best memories all involve situations with Frankie, whether on a grand adventure to Neverender in New York or simply swimming in the lake at 2 am for no apparent reason. There will be times in all of your lives when you?ll meet people, whether they are lovers or friends or even family, who change your lives for the better in an irreversible way. The sort of people that despite the amount of time you spend with them you will never be able to forget. For me, Frankie was one of those people, and certainly to this point in my life has been the most significant one.

Though while Frankie was the best of friends, he wasn?t always the best son. Before he left my house for the final time, and before he received the news that would contribute to ending his life, we had a long conversation about his relationship with his lovely mother. He told me he was ashamed of the fact that he was still relying on her so much at the age of 21, and also of the fact that he was inept at expressing his love and care for his mom despite the fact that she was so good to him. It is a testament to Tara as a parent and as a person that she was so steadfast in her love for her son and that she continued until the end to be there for him. He would have wanted me to express how much he truly loved his mom, and how grateful he was for everything he did for her despite the fact that he often seemed to take it for granted. I can tell you now Tara that he never did, even if it didn?t always seem that way.

Frankie was a complicated man. To many who knew him superficially and only interacted with him in passing or because of circumstance I know he could at times seem cold and uncaring. But he really wasn?t. He simply didn?t have much time for pretense or etiquette. He often wished that people would interact with him in the same way he insisted on interacting with everyone else, with honesty and with purpose. He absolutely hated when people would dance around the truth, or exaggerate, and he was a terrible liar precisely because of the fact that he did it so infrequently. He would often tell people the things they didn?t want to hear, even if they were harmful or painful and if you asked him for his opinion, you had better be fully aware of what was coming your way because he wouldn?t mince words.

Throughout my time as Frankie?s best friend I?ve heard this quality of Frankie?s called many different things. People have called him tactless, cruel, cold, socially inept you name it. But he was only ever really being one thing: honest. I really cannot say I have ever, in my entire life met anyone who treated everyone the same the way Frankie did. I?ve never met anyone who was courageous enough to look bad to say whatever needed to be said the way he did. So if you asked me how Frankie treated people, there is only one way I could describe it, and that is with respect. The respect to not cloud relationships and words with the white lies and evasions we so causally resort to. And though it?s futile to think this, perhaps he was right when he constantly attested to how much better things would be if people just acted the way he did.

The circumstances in which Frankie leaves us are some of the saddest imaginable. Its especially a shame because he was finally turning a corner before everything came crashing down... He was planning on following in his big brother Kraig?s footsteps, who he respected more than anyone, and joining the Navy and eventually getting an education. I know it is heartwarming and at the same time somewhat frustrating for myself, and many others including Kraig and Tara to see all of the support that Frankie received after his death. Heartwarming to know he was as loved as he deserved to be, and frustrated because we will never know if he would have done what he has done had he known what we know now. But I take comfort in knowing that Frankie during his life touched so many people and will be remembered long after I?m gone as a wonderful and honest man.

In many ways this will be the only time I really get to say goodbye to you Frankie, and I wish it weren?t the case. I wish you could have known how much I loved you and how far I would have gone to keep you in this world by my side, and I can only hope you find the peace you?re looking for. I know Frankie will be remembered differently by many different people. Whether as a loving son, a steadfast friend, the guy who summarily executed all of his friends at bored games, who sucked at halo, or the kid who put far too much salt on his food or even the guy who had the audacity to tell you that you really did look fat in those jeans. But to me, I will always remember him as a true and honest person. Someone who taught me lessons about respect and dignity, and did so even when I didn?t want to hear them. But more than anything I?ll remember him as a brother lost to early from a world to cruel for him. A world undeserving of so pure a person, of so good a man, and so wonderful a friend. Neither of us cared much for religion or any concept of an afterlife, but brother wherever you are, save me a seat, because there is nowhere in the universe I?d rather be.


----------------------


Thank you all for the good memories that you made with him in this game. It really did mean a lot to him.

[DarkTrinity]

Thank you for taking the time to come here and share that with all of us and I'm sorry for your loss of such a close friend. Those were some great memories that although most of us didn't have with frank, we can sympathize.

[Lucifer]

There will be times in all of your lives when you?ll meet people, whether they are lovers or friends or even family, who change your lives for the better in an irreversible way. The sort of people that despite the amount of time you spend with them you will never be able to forget.

This is what I simply could not put into words. There are a select few people in my life that have had this effect on me, and even though my interactions with Frank were sparse, he was one of them. He got me reading again when I hadn't in years, and during a difficult time in my life when my father had just remarried, speaking with him about literature became one of the highlights that kept me from depression.

I believe Seifer would have been honored to have such amazing Speakers for the Dead as you and Brent, thank you so much for sharing that with us.

[Lingus]

I think that was great. I love the Ender's Game referrence. I remember having a dicussion about the series a while back here on the forums.

[Meiun]

Thank you very much for sharing that with us, Kraig. I know Frank meant just as much to this community as it did to him. It was an honor to have him as a part of the staff for as long as we did. I also know that his memory will most certainly live on with us all. The game wouldn't have turned out the same if it weren't for him, and the new upcoming one wouldn't either. So as far as I'm concerned, his influence on Stick Online will continue to live on as well.

[HIJOKE]

I just saw this today & I don't know what to say, so I drew a picture...

[Lucifer]

Oh my god Hijoke, that's wonderful, ahahaha. I'm sure Seifer is laughing wherever he is. Thank you for that XD.

[Forum]

Goodbye seifer hope your in a better place :( may you be remembered as the memories of you come to me..
I felt obliged to post to you because you always seemed like an nice guy R.i.p





your Hyperion and slasher

[Zarathos]

That's... All my support goes to his family. RIP Seifer...

[bubba]

I barely knew him from back in the day, and only played with him infrequently on SO2 but he always came off as very cool-headed individual and a nice guy to talk to. I'm very sorry for your loss.