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I just wanted to thank everyone again for all their kind thoughts and hard work during the recent passing of my brother Bob Arnold. To me he was my rock the person Who I could tell anything to and he would not judge but listen and maybe offer some piece of wisdom. He has been sorely missed these last few months.
To Piper, Erin and Sapphire, I owe a huge debt of gratitude. Without them and their wisdom, all of Bob's websites would have died with him. They did a tremendous amount of work in a short amount of time to get the job done. I think Bob would have been pleased. Now if he had only left the passwords where we would have found them sooner!!!!
I almost gave everyone a heart attack just now, because I am using his laptop and it almost logged him in and not me. I really have a lot to learn.
Thanks to everyone!!!!
Lani
Comments
Thank You
Bob is sorely missed, and we greatly appreciate your help in keeping his legacy alive.
Portia
Portia
We are all grateful...
We are all grateful to you for enabling us to continue what Bob began. I speak only for myself, but I want you to know that we all owe you for your heart, for your willingness to help, just so many things.
Bob's loss hit us all pretty hard, but you stepped up to the plate and straight up hit a home run!
Thank you.
I agree with Portia and Abby.
You deserve as much a thanks as Erin and Piper and Sapphire. I guess it's pretty evident that pure heart runs in Bob's family.
All four of you though are so awesome to provide a home for so many here and on the other sites.
*Great Big Hugs*
Bailey.
Bailey Summers
We all have our little rememberances of Bob
I have memories of a long phone conversation a few years back and some interesting stuff he sent for me to use in my Timeout series if I can get off my butt and finish it for posting. I really want to get to that point as some of the ideas we bounced off each other still make me smile. The man had a talented imagination and a clear view of what his characters would do in response to situations. Some of it still makes me smile at the mix of serious and the silly. He had a wicked sense of humor. I mean the man liked Weird Al Yankovic!
-- grin --
As you use his laptop think of happier times.
Other than occasional short periods where he felt down and wrote of giving up on his writing or running Stardust as an active site, I have yet to hear a bad word said about him. His help to Erin with her websites is almost the stuff of legend. And the Whateley Academy people -- where I came from originally as a fan fic writer -- owe him a huge debit of gratitude.
And though he did not write all that many stories, at least as not as many as *I* would have wished for, what he wrote was so good. And I liked how in the original postings of Zapped you could see his style and skill evolving as a writer of fiction. Inspite of his physical problems the light shone through.
You had a fine brother, remember him.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
I mean the man liked Weird Al Yankovic!
Doesn't everyone? If they don't, they should go DIAF. Of the Amish Paradise variety ;P
I never knew Bob personally, I was lurking yet, but I did enjoy Zapped.
Abigail Drew.
Thanks to all!!! From Bob's sister
Thank you for posting your blog
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
hello
hello, lani.
you are absolutely welcome. i sound so presumptious... the big thank you's should go to erin, piper and everyone who did the hard work to keep bob-the-bear's sites up and running. all i ever did was read bob's stuff... still i am sure a lot of us are like me - that we read bob's stuff and found them wonderful, entertaining and uplifting, and we would like to say that no thanks are necessary, and we should actually be the ones to say thank you.
i don't know if its appropriate, but maybe you can share with us some of your fond memories and anectodes about your brother? nothing too personal, though, and only those you would be willing to share, of course. i don't want to be a busybody and pry into personal stuff, but, for me, i would surely appreciate knowing a little more about the person who i only knew through his writings. everyone, including you, spoke so glowingly about bob, that i find it a little sad that i never got to know him more.
thanks much!
Â
I never met or talked to Bob
So it's rather strange that he has helped shape me as an author. I know how hard it is to lose a precious and loved family member, and you have my sincere condolences, as little as that may be. He will be long remembered, and I'm sure that his work will have an influence on many writers, long into the future.
Wren
Bob
I think it is kind of ironic that Bob failed english all thru school yet passed the final to graduate and here so many years later he was writing stories. Sure we fought as kids most siblings do, but since we only had each other we learned to appreciate each other's company.
I remember as kids we spent hours in the woods building forts and playing games. In the winter he would shovel the pond and I would skate on it.
Neither of us were the popular kids in school---Bob was the tech geek and I was the non italian kid in an Italian town. Bob had a group of tech friends some of whom to this day are amazed by the things he did.
Our mom always loved the state fair and so did Bob. No matter how he felt, he always went to the fair and a lot of times I went with him.
He would do anything for you---I can't tell you how many computers he fixed or videos he made. He loved watching his great niece skate on the videos he edited for me recorded on the video camera he gave me.
His sense of humor was indeed a bit off. The worse the joke, the more he loved it. A lot of our calls started or ended with one of his not so funny bad jokes.
Still, I think there was always a side of Bob that was still a kid. His collection of videos was indeed impressive but odd at the same time---anything from Mary Poppins and other Disney classics to Star Wars, Mash, and old horror and John Wayne flicks.
Cleaning out someones house gives you a real sense of what was important to them and the sense I got was that computers and his friends he met thru them were right up there at the top of the list.
As kids we went all kinds of places, and I had forgotten that until I found our old photo albums and all the old black and white photos. I even found a more recent photo probably taken a year or so ago on one of his cameras---a self portrait so to speak. Now if I can find the book so I can print it------ Bob would have been able to do it in like 2 seconds!!!!!!!
I have rambled enought. Need to get the great niece off to school. Thanks for everything!!!!!!!IP
Bob A.'s sister
thank you for sharing
thank you for that, lani. Â This makes me feel like I know him a little better.
y'know, i don't think it's all that ironic that bob had trouble with the language. Â in my little experience, good writers rarely have perfect grammar. Â i also think a story suffers all the more if the writer obsesses too much on the grammar. but i also think it is a good idea to ask for help when you need it, and bcts is lucky to have many excellent volunteer editors always ready to help. just my opinion, only, of course...
in any case, his problems with the language, if any, are not apparent in his stories - they were well written and very entertaining.
As you can imagine, people like me grew up a little isolated. Â rarely do we find people that are understanding of us. Â and it would have been a great comfort if my sister was close to me. Â though i don't think bob is like us, i think you (and he, as well) were lucky to have grown up close to each other.
i guess i am not too surprised to learn that bob liked fairs. the heroine of my favorite bob story worked in an amusement park, and was very helpful in a technical, nerdy way (joke!) - adept at mechanical and electronic things.
i can identify with your feelings about cleaning house. i have only really lived in three places and never had to pack away stuff for another person prior to closing up his house before, but when we did pack up our stuff, closed up the apartment and prepared to move to our new house, my room mate and i marveled at the stuff i collected over the years, and it gave insights to myself that she and i didn't know: like i seem to like... and didnt return... and kept a lot of... and seemed very fond of... but i'm not telling as it is a little embarassing :)
isn't it wonderful to have a big library of movies?  I have collected a lot over the years myself - since i am the type that likes to watch movies over and over, i prefer to buy copies instead of just renting.  i have lots of vcd disks  and even a few vhs tapes still with me (although i don't know why i still hold on to the vhs ones) but the rest are dvds.  when i was young, i would have liked to invite friends over to watch movies, but i didn't have many friends growing up.  but today, ocassionally, i would invite office friends to come over to watch stuff.  i guess i am trying to make up for before...
its wonderful you have so many pictures of your brother, and i'm sure it'll keep his memory alive.
i am curious, though (and you don't have to respond if you don't want to) - was the family surprised to find his connection to our community? Â forgive the question. it's just curiosity, i'm afraid.
anyway, thank you for sharing.Â
Bob A.'s sister I can't say
Bob A.'s sister
I can't say I was shocked maybe a little surprised, but growing up Bob was always a little unique. He never really dated girls althought he had several who were close friends. He was a bit of a loner. He actually introduced me to my first love who was a friend of his and I found out 2 or 3 years later after we broke up, that he would have fit in here too.
Bob was always there to help and listen even if he really didn't understand all the girly things that I would talk about. Thinking back now, maybe he knew more than I gave him credit for.
For obvious reasons this is a part of his life we have not fully shared with his dad I don't know what his feelings would be and there is no reason to stress him about something that no longer matters.
Bob A.'s sister
Legacy of Zapped! (and Jennifer Stevens)
Thank you, Lani (and also the whole family of Bob), for allowing Piper, Erin and Sapphire to rescue the legacy of Bob through the websites he hosted and managed. That gesture of goodwill on your part is an honor I hopoe our community here will continue to cherish.
In my experience over the last year or two, Bob was mostly a "backstage" person. But it takes a rock-steady backstage person to hold the show together. His legacy is mainly in providing webspace and encouraging other authors as editor (and I guess even as mentor and personal friend).
Of what little original writing he published, "Zapped!" is for me his most important legacy. Even without having had personal contact with Bob, I sensed that the story of Jennifer "Jen" Stevens is autobiographical and a wish for a better life alternative.
Since Bob has allowed and encouraged JulieO to include Jen Stevens into the JulieVerse, and he has hinted in the later chapters of "Zapped!" at some cross-over with characters from JulieO, I would like to request/suggest/beg that you release the "Zapped!" universe and characters to JulieO for safekeeping and futher development and publishing.
Given the close collaboration between Bob and JulieO in the past, I have very high confidence in JulieO to do proper justice to Bob's legacy in the care of "Zapped!".
As a big fan of the JulieVerse stories published mainly on Stardust -- and crossposted here on BCTS -- if the friendship between Jen Stevens, Alexis Eden and "Roo", and the other mistical/magical characters would have to be cut short.
Once more, I feel for the loss of your brother and send my sympathies. And also a big thank you for your kind and understanding handling of a side of your brother's that might have been hidden from most of his family.
Jessica Nicole
My Bob story
The first TG story I wrote, indeed the first fiction I had written in many years was a fan-fic in an author's world. Lots of buying clothes and "wow, it's great being a girl, " and not much else. I sent it to Bob and asked him to pass it on, which he did. Alas, she declined to let me use her character. But Bob said he liked the story and encouraged me to do more. And I've done a few. Without Bob's nudge however, I'm not sure I would have done any.
Although I haven't written much and don't even read as many stories here as I used to, lots of change for the good has happened since that first email to Bob. So, Thank You, Bob. Wherever you are, I hope you have lots of gadgets to play with.
Jamie