Death in cyberspace
Posted by Jeff Quinton on December 12, 2007This post is a little more personal in nature. I never knew Flickr user sisudave personally - that is, I never actually met him. However, he took a lot of pictures from the part of South Carolina I am originally from and posted them online. Before I moved to Maryland, I had become acquainted with his local photography and since then we have conversed via comments on each others’ photos and via messages on Flickr. I often told him things about South Carolina history or local places around Laurens or Greenwood and he usually identified flowers that I didn’t know the names of that I had taken pictures of.
During that time I found out that someone I knew in Greenwood (her name is Bev) had worked with Dave at Park Seed at one point. I heard from Bev Friday that she had gotten an e-mail that Dave had collapsed and been taken to the hospital the day before and that there was a cancerous mass on his lung. I got another message from Bev last night that Dave had a heart attack the day before and that he was still in the hospital and had a tough road ahead of him but she later heard he passed away yesterday morning.
I know there has been a lot written about the phenomenon of death online as it relates to people knowing people via online networking, blogs and other parts of Web 2.0. This is just the first time it has impacted me so closely and I felt the need to blog about it.
Dave’s full name was David Anderson. The obituary hasn’t shown up yet on the obituaries page for the Greenwood Index-Journal but if I remember correctly, they’re still an afternoon paper - so it should show up later today or tomorrow. You can also see the last picture that he uploaded here.
UPDATE: The timeline of events above is probably a bit off and the Index-Journal is a morning paper now - I had forgotten about the switch. There is also an online obituary at the funeral home page:
David A. Anderson, 70, died Monday, December 10, 2007. Born in Ossining, NY, he was a son of the late Gustaf E. and Anna Kiiskila Anderson. He received his B.S. degree in Horticulture from Cornell, was retired from Geo. W. Park Seed Co., served in the US Army and was a member of the Finland Society. He was preceded in death by a sister, Ruth Anderson Stevens and a brother, Herbert Anderson and is survived by a brother, Gustaf E. Anderson, Jr. and his wife, Barbara; many nieces and nephews.
Comment by tkminter
Dave’s friendly nature was just as inviting online as he was in person. I can see that from the many contacts on his Flickr site. Although I knew Dave and had worked with him at Park Seed, we had reconnected, on flickr of all places, just recently. I think that Dave’s story proves that there is much more to cyberspace just links and URL’s.
Comment by Mary Flynn
Thank you for sharing this post with all of us in “cyberspace”. I had read your comments on Dave’s photos and I’ve always enjoyed his photo journalisic photo stream about Greenwood and the surrounding area,Park Seed,civic events..and of course his beautiful flower photos.
This is my first experince with loss of an internet friend and I am surprised at how deeply grieved I am. Dave was a part of my life everyday,just never in person. I will miss him so much.
Comment by Claire F. Kuhl
You might like to read the eulogy that was presented at Dave’s visitation. It’s on www.parkseedmemories.com.
Comment by Tom
Jeff - thanks for your write-up about Dave and the link to the obituary. I heard about his passing last night, and was shocked. I, too, only knew him through our Flickr interactions, and had never met him personally. Even so, I considered him a friend. He will be missed.
Comment by Art Hill
Thanks for putting this up. I only knew Dave from Flickr but was deeply saddened to learn of his passing. I post a small tribute to Dave on my Flickr photostream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthill/2188311074/
Comment by mary kelly
i was also one of dave’s
contacts on flickr and still miss his comments