We have lost a great DUer

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2382509

In our brawls here, it serves to remember what is important, and what is not.

[benburch]

1. Will, my sincere condolences.

Only the good die young.

[keepthemhonest]

2. sorry Will about your loss

I did not know him,I am sorry about that too.

[hippiechick]

7. Will's loss ?

Will isn't the only person who was close to Kef.

Thank you.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Of all the moments to throw a dig at me

this would probably be the worst.

Thank you.

[ailsagirl]

30. Sorry Will, about your friend and for the gratuitous comment

[mzmolly]

34. I agree, how totally tasteless.

:( Especially now.

[villager]

3. "I read the news today, Oh boy..."

just a few minutes ago, after logging on. Goddamnit. RIP, Kef. You will be missed...

[seabeyond]

4. thank you for sharing scott

and your experience with him. love to his mother and those that will miss him.

[KittyWampus]

5. A Great Soul Begins Yet Another Journey.

Good bye Scott.

[President Kerry]

6. may he rest in peace..

it was a beautiful eulogy, and my prayers are with his family.

[liberalhistorian]

8. OMG!

I can't believe Kephra's gone! I'm so sorry, Will, I know how important he was to you. What happened, since he was so young?

[WilliamPitt]

10. There will be an autopsy on Monday

[Alizaryn]

28. My sympathy to you sir.

[KingoftheJungle]

9. hear hear-a loss that also serves as a reminder...

Another great one gone, and another reminder to the rest of us that life is fickle and our interests are best served by keeping our eyes on the prize and working together for that goal. If we wish to honor Scott, we can do it best by setting aside our petty squabbling and uniting to help realize the goals he had, and that goal is truth and justice in a time of unthinkable corruption. Do not let his, and our, collective dream die because of your need to flame the internet with bullshit.

[mzmolly]

35. I agree, and in honor of Kephra "Scott" I intend to remember that

from here on out.

Welcome to DU.

[madrchsod]

11. i agree

sad day to hear a friend has passed away.

[dflprincess]

13. Oh my God, what a shock

Condolences to Kephra's family and friends. I never met him and it's hard enough for me to grasp this. I can only imagine what those who were close to him are feeling.

[mordarlar]

14. I did not know him but i am sorry for your loss.

[NC_Nurse]

15. Thank you for the touching eulogy, Will

I'm so sorry for your loss and for his mother's pain. I enjoyed his humor and knowledge and I appreciate you helping me know him better. May he rest in peace.

[JohnnyRingo]

16. Very sad...My condolences to those personally affected.

[Junkdrawer]

17. A great Human Being...

I can think of no higher tribute.

[cali]

18. My sincerest condolences: Let me offer this to Scott- and to you.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.


Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.


Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.


Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.


Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.



And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
You'll have understood by now what these Ithakas mean.
 

C.P. Cavafy  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SueZhope]

19. what sad news this is.

My Condolences to you Will , and all his friends and family:hug:

[SW FL Dem]

20. I am very sad to hear this. I read his posts

with great interest and respect. DU has lost a great member today.

[Hardrada]

22. My Condolences Also

To his family and friends. I always enjoyed reading his posts and was a fellow Deaniac. And Science Fiction fan. I wish I had replied to some of his posts with praise and not lurked so long. He will be very much missed.

[BeFree]

21. So, that's what has been missing on DU

DU won't be the same without him and his posts. What did he have, like 50,000?

We have but a fleeting moment on this earth, best to make the best of it.

Thanks, Kephra for your spirit and your example you displayed so valiantly on our DU.

[New Earth]

25. omg. it was Khephra?

oh man....i didn't realize that's who it was....i never interacted with him personally on the board, but i did always feel some kind of connection to him when i first came here - he used to have the Eye of Horus as his avatar. oh man...:(

[graywarrior]

23. Damn. I have no words.

[sunnystarr]

24. My sympathy to you for the loss of a friend, and to his family.

May he rest in peace with the love of all whose lives he touched and through whom he will live on.

[DearAbby]

26. I am saddened for this loss...but inspired by his cause.

I am so sorry Will, keep his picture in your heart, so he will be there when we have won the day!

[IndyPriest]

27. My heart goes out to you, Will

Thanks for your warm words.

[suffragette]

29. I am sorry for the loss of a wonderful soul

[helderheid]

31. I'm so sorry Will

[k8conant]

32. My thoughts and prayers are with you and his family and friends..

may the angels be with him in paradise this day.

[buddysmellgood]

33. Thank you for sharing that. I wouldn't have known and even though

he is gone, I feel enriched having read of his efforts.

[TruthIsAll]

36. May he rest in peace. The most prolific DUer of all.

Very sad.

It reminds me of one of my dear friends who died last year, also found sitting at his computer. They said it must have been a very massive heart attack.

Days are precious.

Kep will be missed.

[senseandsensibility]

37. What a sad reminder

that in this "virtual" world of DU, we are are very much real and vulnerable. I am inspired by this tragedy to remember what is really important, and to spend less time indulging in petty resentment. RIP, fellow DUer and brother.

[bush_is_wacko]

38. I did not know your friend or his mother but my sincerest sympathies

to both you and his mother. It is never easy to lose a loved one. May he rest in peace.

[Niche]

39. Scott...

through love and light find universal truth and peace now.



(I'm so sorry that another good soul has passed. So sad)

[seito]

40. This is a sad day

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Scott's family and friends.

Thank you for reminding us of what is really important in life.

Scott Lowery, you have touched the hearts of many and you will be missed.

[Lisabtrucking]

41. It's always a sad day when a stable minded, caring, loving person dies.

Sorry to hear about your friend. He sounded like a very smart loving person. May his soul rest in peace and let us keep up his work.

[all.of.me]

42. My thoughts are with you and his family, Will.

"...what is important, and what is not."

Each other is what's important. I'm reminded of this whenever someone dies. We are all we have.

[catgirl]

48. Let's continue Kef's fight

and may his legacy live on forever. Let's dedicate our win to him.

[Lugnut]

43. I'm so sorry

Condolences to you, Will, and his grieving family. This is a huge loss to all.

[marcologico]

44. That's really a shame.

Very sorry to hear it.

[loudsue]

45. No!! NO! NO!!! Not Kheph! Will...this CAN'T be true!

He was here during the Boxer Rebellion....HE WAS JUST HERE!! This can't be true....

Not Khephra. :cry:

This is too shocking to deal with.

Khephra has been on this board through all of it... he transcribed all the goings on from C-Spam through all of the hearings on the House and Senate floors. He kept all of us going, and informed, about every statement of substance, all through the Dept. of Homeland Security Bill passage. He helped instigate the flooding of Senator Byrd's office with flowers, when Sen. Byrd stood firm against this fascist piece of legislation.

It was Khephra who, day after day, would keep the cube rats informed on what they couldn't watch, because they were at work. Khephra was the heart and soul of this forum...he was always "there", with whatever was important.

I remember on Thursday, after the Boxer Rebellion; it was when I saw Khephra's posts, that I knew the world would go on....that it would be ok. We had all been through these battles before, and we were all still here.

:cry: Will, I'm REALLY sorry for you...I know you & Kef worked together, and I remember how it really meant a lot to him at that time. It is just too hard to grasp right now that he's gone.

He was just here TWO DAYS AGO!! I'm so sorry that DU has lost such an icon, and that his mom has lost her son. Kheph lived with his mom for most of the time he posted the C-Spam threads, and he used to say things like "well, mama Kheph just asked me ....". You could tell they were close. I didn't know him personally, but...well, I knew him....because he was so much a part of DU for so long.

Rest in peace, Kheph...we love you, and we're going to miss you terribly.

O8) Fly with the angels, friend. You're going home. O8)

:kick::kick::kick::kick:

[KoKo]

70. .Thanks Loud Sue......This is why we will miss Keph....you said it well

and I'll add down here what I wrote last night on another thread, which echoes you..

[KoKo]

71. Keph will always have a home in many of our hearts......

I only knew him from his posts on DU and PM's with him, but he was in many ways the soul of DU to me. We've lost alot with his passing. I will always smile when I think of him. Although I know he had alot of saddness in his life and some disabilities, he found a working home here on DU where he provided the most and best articles from combing newspapers here and around the world to keep us informed. I don't think anyone will be able to replace him. He kept many of us balanced through some very bad times.

Keph had running threads on Senate and House hearings on Iraq Resolution and was here on 9/11 (I believe he was the first who reported that awful morning). He worked tirelessly to keep us informed and on track. He was very kind to me when I got down during the build up to Iraq Invasion and the Campaign Primaries.

I will miss him here, terribly. And I give his Momma Keph a :hug: because I know how much he loved her. He often mentioned her and I felt I knew her from his little anecdotes.

Farewell Keph...and I know if there's a computer in that Big Sky you are up there working on it. Your spirit will always be here and in our hearts. Keph (Scott).....and my :loveya: to ya... and a last big :hi:
from Koko..

[dweller]

46. Rest in Peace Keph

Scala Coeli

We do not see them come,
Their great wings furled, their boundless forms infolded
Smaller than poppy seed or grain of corn,
To enter the dimensions of our world
In time to unfold what in eternity they are,
Each a great sun, but dwindled to a star
By the distances they have traveled.

Higher than cupola their bright ingress;
Presences vaster than the vault of night,
Incorporeal mental spaces infinite,
Diminished to a point and to a moment brought.
Through the everywhere and nowhere invisible door
By the many ways they know,
The thoughts of wisdom pass;
In seed that drifts in air or on the waters' flow,
They come to us down ages long as dreams
Or instantaneous as delight.

As from seed tree, flower, and fruit
Grow and fade like a dissolving cloud,
Or as the impress of the wind
Makes waves and ripples spread,
They move unseen across our times and spaces.
We try to hold them, trace on walls
Of cave, cave-temple or monastic cell their shadows cast:
Animal-forms, warriors, dancers, winged angels, words of power
On precious leaves inscribed in gold and lapis lazuli,
Or arabesques in likeness of the ever flowing.
They show us gardens of Paradise, holy mountains
Where water of life springs from rock or lion's mouth,
Walk with us unseen, put into our hands emblems,
An ear of corn, pine cone, lotus, looking glass or chalice;
As dolphin, peacock, hare or moth or serpent show themselves,
Or human-formed: a veiled bride, a boy bearing a torch,
Shrouded or robed or crowned, four-faced,
Sounding lyre or sistrum, or crying in bird-voices.

Water and dust and light
Reflect their images as they slowly come and swifly pass.

We do not see them go
From visible to invisible like gossamer in the sun;
Bodies by spirit raised
Fall as dust to dust when the wind drops,
Moth-wing chrysalis.
Those who live us and outlive us do not stay
But leave empty their semblances, icons, bodies
Of long-enduring gold or the fleet golden flower
On which the Buddha smiled.
In vain we look for them where others found them,
For by the vanishing stair of time immortals are forever departing;
But while we gaze after the receding vision
Others are already descending through gates of ivory and horn.

Kathleen Raine


dedicated to the boy bearing a torch,
dp

[Wilms]

47. No one is really gone...

until the last person who knew them goes.

[helderheid]

49. And those who have written

live on forever so long as they are read.

[Wilms]

50. And those who will read...

will be able to because those who wrote did that that they might be free.

[princehal]

51. .

There are no words that I can contribute that hold the elegance that Will wrote.

I am new here, and with a lot of the snarky backbiting I have seen (some even in this thread) made me question if devoting time to DU was worthwhile.

But I read Khephra’s threads. And now, he is gone. And in reading the eulogies and remembrances here, I realize that although many of us cannot know each other in the flesh, we still can know each other. Perhaps there is a home here. Perhaps we are a family.

We are just… human. Not the crazy conspiracy theorists, wackos, and whiners that some would suggest. We, as Khephra did, feel our countries pain deeply, and we want to heal it.

As a new person all I can say is realize what you have here, in this community. Value it. Respect it, and each other. Life is so… transient.

[DemReadingDU]

52. My condolences to everyone

Having recently joined DU, I didn't get an opportunity to know Khephra, and I am so sorry, because from everyone's testimonies, he was a great person to know, and very sad to lose.

[Sydnie]

53. Very sorry to hear this news. My thoughts are with his family n/t

[kitkat65]

54. My hearfelt sympathy to you, Will, and to Scott's family

I too am new here and did not know him personally. But by your kind words he sounded like a great soul with much to offer.

Peace

[sepia_steel]

55. I am sorry, Will

My heart and thoughts go out to you all.

[RaulVB]

56. My most sincere condolences, Will..

I'm sure your friend Scott is right up there where he belongs, looking upon us and caring as he always did...

[sarahlee]

57. My sympathies to you Will

and to the other DUers on your loss.

Scott sounds like someone I would have enjoyed knowing.

May his journey be blessed with joy and understanding.

Peace and Blessings

[WilliamPitt]

58. This isn't going to drop yet

[juajen]

62. Ah, Will

What a sad, sad day. What a wonderful DUer he was to me, and a personal friend to you and so many others. We have to try very hard to not let his death bring us low, as it is doing to so many of us right now. He would never want that. Do you think we could have some of his posts as avatars? Just so we can still see his name? Would you ask Skinner? I don't think I can bear not seeing his name! That way, we could all remember often what he brought into our life by way of this forum. He then becomes a living memory and a part of DU for as long as the board goes on. I really think he would like that.

Edited to add: I don't think i mean avatars, but signatures and I don't know how to do that. Maybe someone could share with me how to put a post of his as a signature when I post. If we all did that, maybe we wouldn't miss him as much.

[thanatonautos]

59. From what people write, he was well loved and is sorely missed.

My condolences to all those who mourn. I didn't have the
chance to know Khephra, but I will seek out his writings.

[lavenderdiva]

60. I am so sorry to hear this news

While I am a newbie here on DU, and had very limited interaction with Khephra/Scott Lowery, I have, tonight had the opportunity to read what many of you have written of him, and he will be sorely missed. His contributions to DU as a whole, and to many individually, left lasting impressions. I wish his family peace and comfort in this difficult time. My prayers are with you.

[farmboxer]

61. Very Sorry.

I am so sorry..........

[Raksha]

63. Kephra was before my time on DU, so I didn't know him...

but your note makes me wish I had. My condolences to you and his family.

[Flubadubya]

64. Kephra was my friend and we called each other such...

I had several wonderful discussions with Scott over the years. I spoke with him through a thread what seems just barely over a week ago. I had no idea at the time he was so close to dying. I will miss him deeply.

You are a wonderful soul Keph. Be at peace now and know that we will keep up your fight here. We love you.

[WritersBlock]

65. So sorry to hear this sad news.

I haven't been here long enough to have had the honor of knowing Mr Lowery, but it sounds like he was a very special person. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends on their loss.

[roenyc]

66. my deepest sympathy to all of you and his family

just posted in the other thread Will, i am too new to really know anyone, but i can tell from all the pain his passing has caused he was a great person.

His spirit lives on in his writing and his posts and in his ideals that are carried on by other DUers.

[lonestarnot]

67. I am very sorry to hear of this William Pitt.

:cry: :grouphug: :hug:

[GreenArrow]

68. ...

:-(

In more ways than one, Keph represented what was best about this board. I'm very sorry to hear this.

[KoKo]

72. Keph was the best of this Board....indeed that's true. the Best..we won't

see it ever again, I don't think. :-(

[GetTheRightVote]

69. So sorry about the lost of such a soul in this world.

Prays with him, his family and loved ones.

[mzmolly]

73. .

[Miami Liberal]

74. This is so sad

He was the master of LBN. I wish I could've known him better, my deepest condolences to his family and friends.