The World Wide Cemetery

Tracy Christina Allen ✵ 1970-1998


Name at birth:	Tracy Christina Renfro
Date of birth:	10 May 1970
Place of birth:	Paris, Texas USA
Date of death:	09 January 1998
Place of death:	Paris, Texas USA
Resting place:	Providence Cemetery Paris, Texas USA
Submitted by:	Norma Renfro (nrenfro@cox-internet.com)

Tracy Christina was the youngest child of Robert and Norma (Jackson)Renfro. She leaves behind a brother Eddie Renfro and a sister Rebecca (Renfro) Boatwright. Also, two half sisters, Roxanne Renfro and Robbie Kay (Renfro) Salmon, all of Texas. Tracy also leaves two precious young sons, Mathew Joseph Allen and Justin Lee Allen. They were only 9 and 12 years old when God called her home. Tracy also leaves one heartbroken Mother, Norma Renfro, who feels as if her life ended the day her daughter died at only 27 years of age. I feel as if Tracy was never meant to live to be old. She was a warm-hearted, sincere, loving person. Her personality was outgoing, outstanding and unforgetable. Her laugh and sense of humor alone made it worthwhile, just to know her. She was a hard worker, making the living for her family. In spite of her physical problems from a motorcycle accident when she was only 14, in which she broke both legs, one arm, and pelvis, and had steel pins in both legs, she held down a fulltime job that she had to stand on her feet all day, with a bone growing through the bottom of one of her feet. She was clerk and manager of a convenience store and was robbed at gunpoint twice, and both times, was back at work the very next day. She had a hard life, for it to be such a short one. Everything she owned was burned in a fire as it was being moved. All was lost, even the truck and trailer. Tracy worked at one job for four years, without missing one day of work. She suffered a miscarriage with her third baby. She had every reason to see life as nothing but heartache. She had very little in the way of material things, never having a nice home and pretty things to decorate with. She had such few clothes, that they were carried out on one arm, from the closet. All this wasn’t enough….then to fight the long hard battle with cancer. She went through the radiation, the chemotherapy, the surgeries, the tests, the exams, hundreds of medications,and yet never gave in to it. She believed in God and also in miracles. She believed to the last day of her life, that God would send a miracle. I believe that He did, in His own way. I believe that he rescued her from the life that she had. He didn’t answer our prayers as we asked him to, but He took Tracy home with him where she would be well, and safe and never have to worry again. She is walking without steel pins now, and singing in that beautiful voice with other angels. If she managed to always be uplifting and cheerful and hopeful and loving here, in the midst of all she had to endure, I can only imagine how happy she is now that she is in God’s great kingdom. I don’t wish her away from the Heavenly Home she is living in now, and yet I wonder how we can go on without her presence here. On some of my better days, when I’m not crying, I wonder if maybe she wasn’t my daughter at all… Maybe she was really an angel, just pretending to be Mother, Daughter, Sister and Friend… Maybe God sent her here for a short period of time to teach the ones of us that knew and loved her so many lessons, for we did learn from her. We learned about Love, Strength, Caring, Sharing, and so much more. I miss my little girl, she will always be that in my mind. She was my child, my friend, and life will never be the same again. But then, Heaven won’t either, now that she’s there. Goodnight my precious child…..Mama

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Thelma Elaine Allen ❀ Visitors & Flowers

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AuntyBern@aol.com
05 January, 2000
Mom
I think of you every day,
I wish you were still here.
I miss the talks we use to have,
and having you so near.

You always had time to listen,
And knew just what to do.
You can’t come to me no more,
But someday I’ll come to you.
I Love You
Bern Bern

LAYNEJAYNE@aol.com
27 August, 1999
I hope you like these Ma, let Dad smell them too OK? I still think about you every day, and how I wish you could have met my three boys. They are amazing, and I love them as much, as you loved me. Love You More Than Ever, Elaine

AuntyBern@aol.com
05 April, 1999
I still hear your voice, I still feel your touch, My mother, My friend, I love you so much.
Love LaVerne and Ray

LAYNEJAYNE@aol.com
16 March, 1999
All my Love Forever, Elaine

Magical3@aol.com
15 March, 1999
Ma, you are in our hearts always. We love you and miss you. Glenn, Cindy, & Girls

Thelma Elaine Allen ✵ 1919-1985


Name at birth:	Thelma Elaine Westgate
Date of birth:	21/11/1919
Place of birth:	Taunton, MA.
Date of death:	18/5/1985
Place of death:	Middleboro,MA.
Resting place:	Staples Street Cemetery, East Taunton, MA USA
Submitted by:	LaVerne Reynolds (AuntyBern@aol.com)

THELMA E. ALLEN

TAUNTON- Thelma E (Westgate) Allen, 65, of 51 Kingman St., East Taunton, died Saturday after a brief illness. She was the wife of Vernon F. Allen and daughter of the late Leon and Gertrude (Burnham) Westgate.
She died at St. Luke’s Hospital, Middleboro, Ma. She was born in Taunton and lived here most of her life. She attended East Taunton Congregational Church.
Survivors include her widower: four sons Richard Borden, LeRoy Borden, Kevin Allen and Glenn Allen all of Taunton; five daughters, Elaine Hovestadt, Marion Reynolds, LaVerne Reynolds, Judith DeCosta and Sheri Haskins, all of Taunton; two brothers, Sheldon Westgate of South Middleboro and Elwyn Westgate of East Taunton; a sister Pauline Lewis of East Taunton; 17 grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.
Arrangements are made by Ashley Funeral Home, 35 Oak St., Middleboro.

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Robert Jason Allen ❀ Visitors & Flowers

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27 November 2024

Forever your Always Cowboy

Carol

11 October 2024

I miss you, forever your always!

Carol

14 September 2023

Happy Birthday 14, Sept Forever my Always PA XOXO

Carol

31 March 2022

My Sweet Cowboy, Miss & Love you most Tell tell your ma I said hi & I miss her too xoxo

Carol

29 December 2021

I’ve been thinking of you, quite often. One more ride for you, around my 50th bday. Miss you friend

Bobby Michael Couch

1 August 2021

My Sweet Cowboy Love you Always

Carol

28 October 2019

thinking of you .. steve e

18 July 2019

Forever Loved & Missed Sweet Cowboy.

Love Always Carol

blessedmd34@hotmail.com
17 July, 2009
Hey Jason,
It’s hard to believe that you left us 13 years ago today. Not a day goes by where I don’t miss or think of you. It amazes me how thoughts of you still captivate me… I know they always will. (Smile) Your mom has been a true blessing to me… I thank our Lord & Savoir for her everyday. Rascal Flats came out with a new song “Why” it truly touches my heart about you. I know one day we will meet again, but until then many hugs and love!

29 July, 2008
Hi Jason,
It’s been 12 years… it is amazing how God brings us through storms even when you are weary. This year has been hard for me. Sometimes I still hear your laughter and see your smile… how peaceful … I look forward to seeing you again one day and giving you a great BIG, HUGE HUG! Forever I will love and miss you… This is for you…
THE DANCE… (the shortened version)
The Dance…
It was 1992 when I met this incredibly handsome man from the great state of Texas. I remember him catching my eye before I actually ever spoke to him. His smile could light up a city that had a power outage! That was how amazing his smile was! His eyes were as beautiful as the crisp morning sun. The night I met him he asked me to dance. Boy was I scared because I surely did not know how to do the two-step. Especially his way… We finally learned each others names… His was Jason! So we danced and he laughed at me, saying no that is not the way, just follow me. So I tried and tried. He had his own uniqueness about dancing and no other could touch him when it came to dancing. That dance was the most amazingly wonderful dance I ever had in my life. To my surprise later that evening he asked me to dance again. How could I say no to him! So handsome and charming… Yes, he was a ladies man! So I said yes and memories were made from that point on.

Well, from that moment everyday I spent with him he always took my breath away. Jason always had a way of bringing a smile to your face even if you didn’t want too. He would joke around with you until you did smile or laugh. Over the years we had special times, some not so good times, but above all I know that we had a special love that we shared with each other that no one could take away.

There was this one fateful day, if I could have turned the clock back I would have… Just like that song of Reba McIntyre’s “If I Had Only Known”.

From that fateful phone call, everything was a blur to me for the next several months. Jason passed away on July 17, 1996. He was the love of my life and has a special place in my heart and always will. How I will never forget the times we had together and the joy you bring to my heart still to this day.

I guess you could say my Dance had ended… but your smile, love and memories are in my heart forever.

May God keep you and love you forever as your family and friends do in there hearts! xxoo

11 January, 2008
Dearest Jason,
Over the years I have dealt with anger, hurt, pain, and joy. You were someone who I will always love and hold a special place in my heart for. I have gone through tests & trials that I know now that God has brought me through. You were one of the greatest tests. 🙂 I gave my heart to Jesus in Sept. 2006. I thought I would share that with you. Have I forgotten you or looks on your face… NO, and I fear that someday I will. I know that I am not to fear nothing but GOD, but how? and if I could have seen the signs, which were right there but I didn’t know what to look for at the time. I still find myself in tears when that song “If I Had Only Known” by Reba McIntire comes on, I remember Gary and I dancing to it at “Spurs” just days after you died. How do I let go… am I afraid to let go? Those are questions that I have to ask GOD and maybe someway he will let me know. Jason, I know that things were not the greatest at times, but I know the times between us were special, the talks, walks, quiet moments, watching tv & movies, listening to music, laughter, fights and just being together. I can sometimes hear your laughter and see that smirk on your face. Oh, how I miss you so…. Sometimes I feel like I am just a piece of paper flowing in the wind, still waiting to find a place to rest. I pray that your family and friends are doing good. Until, the next time. Thank you PA! 🙂 Love always…

SusanCTX@aol.com
03 September, 2007
I reached a major milestone this year, Jason. I let July 17th pass without even realizing what day it was. Yet the memory of the light in your eyes, that beautiful grin, the goodness of your heart & my love for you remain the same. I’d like to tell you that Chief Raney retired from the Navy & upon receiving his flag (which flew over our nation’s capitol, he noticed the date it flew there – July 17, 1996 – and knew exactly where that flag belonged. He sent it to me in Loving Memory of you. I haven’t heard from him in a couple of years, so I trust his pain has lessened. It continues to amaze me that people you touched still come here after 10 years & leave a note. It confirms the fact for me that you were loved by so very many. I wish your nephew could have known you longer. He is so much a combination of you & your brother it often takes my breath away…..and now he’s playing football. You would have been his biggest fan. It comforts me knowing that Granny saw you waiting for her just hours before she died. I also draw a massive amount of comfort knowing that because of our Heavenly Father, we will be together again some day. I love you & miss you, Jason.
Many, many hugs,
Mom

Jason, I also want you & all your friends to know that I have a new web page. It will eventually have some pictures of you there. They can visit it at: http://texaseyesterritory.spaces.live.com/ I’m hoping this site will also minister to others who find themselves in your situation. I love you. Mom (yeah, I know……”Are you done now, Mom?”)

stempey1@sbcglobal.net
16 July, 2007
Another year is gone. I hope you are looking down on us all and give the blessings that we give to you. I am sure that your family ponders July 17 with remembrance and sadness. Be good.
S

17 July, 2006
Hey Jason,
Hard to believe it’s been 10 yrs. You were a good friend.
Steve

goofyfl32@hotmail.com
08 July, 2006
Hi there PA! 🙂 It’s hard to believe 10 years has come & gone, since you went to be with the angels above. I find myself still smiling at all the times we shared. You have a piece of my heart and always will. Forever & ever I will miss you. xxoo

“Christine L. Seeney” (tippytoe62@comcast.net)
19 February, 2004
I miss you everyday, I cannot forget the years of trouble we got into at Cotton Eyed Joe’s and sneaking in and out of the barracks in the middle of the night. After all these years, I still can’t stop remembering the friendship and fun we had. But most of all the love we shared. You are forever branded in my mind and heart. I hope your covering all your bulls and having a great time at those rodeos in the sky. I will see you when I get there and boy do you have some questions to answer. You looked great the last time we talked and hoped we would get together again soon. Save me a dance as always and I still have your toothbrush at my apt.
Christine

Carolyn Toomey (Goofyfl31@comcast.net)
25 January, 2003
I would like to leave these flowers for the man who taught me much about life and love…. you will always be in my heart and in each smile I have….. forever I will love and miss you dearly….

The Memory
I lie awake alone at night
With tears of pain in my eyes
Wondering if it’ll ever be “alright”
And when I can stop all these late-night cries

The golden memory of you and I
Continues to fade with ongoing time
Still trying to figure out how and why
Where we went wrong and how it could die

I wish we could go back to that day
The day we both were hurt and torn
I’d try to stop you and have more to say
But my heart was tired, hurt and worn

I’m still holding onto the memory
It seems to get harder everyday
Thinking of what could and should be
I just need to let go so the pain will go away

Poem written by: Denise Miller – 8/31/02

“scott williams” (cowtowncouple@earthlink.net)
27 September, 2000
I am leaving flowers for Jason. He was a good friend to me and to alot of other people he came in contact with. To this day I still have a scar on my hand that he gave to me in football practice, and whenever I see that on my hand, I get a big smile on my face just remembering those times. Thanks for the poem, it is very awesome. My heart with yours… Thanks Jason!!!!
Love, Scott and Cindy Williams

ScottLuvcheri@aol.com
07 August, 2000
Someone out there cares I’m sending one up for you Jason cheri

“hall8080” (hall8080@gateway.net)
24 April, 2000
I feel your loss, and grieve with you. God bless you and your family.
D. Hall

Amber Muth (AMuth@bbnow.com)
20 March, 2000
My deepest empathy for all. I have lost a total of three to suicide including my father and would like to offer my thoughts and love to Jason and all that knew and loved him. Love is eternal and the spirit is everlasting.

“Bev Jenkins” (Bev@fribit.freeserve.co.uk)
12 March, 2000
I have no words to express my feelings… Remember Jason is only in the next room waiting for you.

HacrChick9@aol.com
28 February, 2000
I would like flowers for Jason Allen Robert

MeBeMe1111@aol.com
18 February, 2000
We still think of you so often, Jason, and miss you all the time. You were a special guy and I personally believe that you’re making the angels in Heaven smile with your quick wit and little pranks. I’ll see you again, someday. Love, Aunt Pollye

Jason and Kathie Pretzel (pretzel2@bellsouth.net)
05 August, 1999
He sounds like the kind of person the world needs… Kathie

IUnityI@aol.com
05 May, 1999
I’m sorry for your loss. I wish I could say somthing more meaningful than that but words escape me at the moment. Jason sounded like a good person. Those aren’t always easy to find. When I do somthing new.. I’ll think of him and let him live it with me.
Robyn Mimna [ 19 ]

“Alma Vega” (alvega@gruposenda.com)
20 December, 1998
Alma I. Vega Flores
Grupo Senda
México

Veronica Cannon (v.cannon@mindpring.com)
08 December, 1998
I was deeply touch to read about Robert Jason Allen. I also lost someone very close to me 7 years ago from suicide. No one can begin to try to figure out the reasons why someone chooses to take their life. I hope RJ’s family will find peace and know that RJ made a mistake that had nothing to do with them. The best we can do is to carry on for ourselves and for the memory of our loved ones who will be forever missed.

PPeter6733 (PPeter6733@aol.com)
26 January, 1998
Flowers for R.J. Allen, I felt a great loss reading about R.J. he was so young, and I have a son, I plan to hold him tight tonight, and tell him how much mom loves him. It made me do a lot of thinking, and in his passing he has helped me to see what is number one in my life, I thank him. And I am so sorry to all of the family I’m sure it is still difficult. Bless you all.
Pepeis1

AIVR Corporation (aivrcorp@airmail.net)
Thu, 26 Dec 1996

Rest assured that your memorial is being read by others, and that we feel the depth of your grief. The poem is magnificent.

Mom (TexEyes1@onramp.net)
Wed, 23 Oct 1996

Dozens and dozens of red roses for my son, symbolizing the love his many friends and his family had for him … and one pure white rose to remind us of the guarantee we have to be with him again one day. Hold this memory bittersweet, Jason, until we meet again …. I love you … Mom.

Robert Jason Allen ✵ 1971-1996

Name at birth:    Robert Jason Allen 
Date of birth:    14/09/71 
Place of birth:   Cleburne, Texas, USA
Date of death:    17/07/96 
Place of death:   Camp Springs, Maryland, USA 
Place of burial:  Caddo Cemetery, Joshua, Texas
Submitted by: Susan Curlee (TexEyes1@onramp.net)

Jason was a very popular and well-liked person all of his life. He excelled at everything he attempted and was very active in Scouts, FFA, rodeo, and football. He made All-County and All-District in football his senior year and graduated in 1990. Jason loved hunting and fishing above almost everything else in his life.

Not knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February, 1991. After basic training and several radar schools, he received his permanent orders to Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland, where he was attached to a Naval Squadron VP-68. While there Jason earned several medals and received a Letter of Commendation. He continued entering rodeos while in the service, riding saddle broncs and bulls.

Jason never liked being stationed so far from home and only re-enlisted after his first four years because he had a chance to receive orders back in Texas. We know Jason was still troubled about the path his life was taking. He couldn’t decide whether to leave the Navy, go to college, and become a teacher, or stay in the service and make it his career. When he was last home on leave it seemed to bother him that all of his friends had married and started their families.

He was a somewhat private person, who kept his feelings closely guarded to some extent and we’ll never know what was truly on his mind when, on July 17, 1996, Jason chose to end his life…he had recently made 2nd Class Petty Officer and received orders to Kingsville, Texas… the thing he’d wanted for the last six years. He is desperately missed by his parents, his step-parents, his grandparents, his brother, his half-sister, and literally hundreds of friends.

Go with God, Jason, and be at peace … finally. I love you and miss you so ….

Mom

A TRIBUTE TO JASON – by his aunt, Pollye McCoy

He’s laid aside his helmet
His football’s put away
The doves are cooing softly
His gun won’t fire today.

The fish are swimming elsewhere
In another sparkling stream
And the campfire’s light is darkened
‘Neath the starlight’s silver gleam.

The bulls and broncs he loved to ride
Are silent now and still
His boots and hats are empty
They’re impossible to fill.

His cowboy days are over
But his entry fees are paid
We hear his voice and see his smile
Those things will never fade.

We will forever ever love him
In our hearts he’ll always be
This cowboy, friend, brother, and son
We miss so desperately …

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Olive Sandford Alcox ❀ Visitors & Flowers

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There are, at present, no flowers for this memorial.

Olive Sandford Alcox ✵ 1986-1974

Name at birth:    Olive Sandford 
Date of birth:    22 August 1896 
Place of birth:   Parkersburg Iowa USA 
Date of death:    29 August 1974 
Place of death:   Cape May Co, New Jersey USA 
Place of burial:  Godfrey Crematory Palermo NJ USA

Submitted by: Susan Watts (boswat@lexcominc.net)

Olive remained above reproach throughout her life. She was a beautiful lady who loved all of Jehovah’s creation. She appreciated the mountains and the ocean and all kinds of animals. She raised such lovely flowers at her home that people drove from afar to admire them. She always said “There is no such word as can’t. You can do anything if you work hard enough.” She did. She ran the RS Alcox Hardware Store in Brookfield Connecticut while raising her 2 children. She was known and admired by the townspeople for her hard work and help for all who came in contact with her. Those who lived there continue to speak of her intelligence and kindness.

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Felicja Abramowicz ❀ Visitors & Flowers

Original www.cemetery.org flower

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Paul G. Shaw & Fabienne Desbiens (pshawfdesbiens@colba.net)

Friday, 13 December 1996

“C’est grand la mort
c’est plein de vie
dedans.”
(Félix Leclerc)

“…our little life is rounded with a sleep…”
(Shakespeare)

Michael Kibbee ❀ Visitors & Flowers

Original www.cemetery.org flower

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4 April 2026

Mike, thank you for creating the World Wide Cemetery!

Jessica

30 October 2025

A beautiful project from an amazing mind. Thank you www.cemetery.org Flower #2

Allison

4 December 2024

Didn’t know you well but thinking of your contribution all these years later

J.R. Olivero

7 January 2023

Thinking of you, today that I’m studying you at the university

Ilaria

1 January 2020

25 years, Mike! You had an awesome idea!

28 December 2018

Mike, thank you for creating the World Wide Cemetery!

8 December 2017

Michael was brilliant, eccentric, and most of all kind. He was an iconoclast and had an impish sense of humour. Tonight I thought of the time when we first met in 1985 in Kingston through my boyfriend at the time. We were close friends in a time before technology. Gerald wrote a fittingly brilliant tribute. In the 20 years since his passing, I’ve never met anyone like him. Peace & love to all.

Scott Orr Biltoft

<scott_biltoft@outlook.com>

6 July 2016

Thank you Michael Kibbee and family. It has been almost 20 years since I added my partner to this website. And his memorial is there, which warms my heart very much. The biography I just read of Michael makes me wish I had known this fine young man.

Carol Anderheggen

<carolmaeray@cox.net>

29 March 2009

I’d like to leave flowers for Michael Kibbee. I didn’t know him or of him, I found his site while playing on the web and his story touched my heart. Such a shame for a handsome young man to be taken so soon. God bless you Michael and I hope you are sleeping well.

Sharon Bodle

3 January 2008

Mike, a friend of mine died last week in Thunder Bay. His name is Les Macdonald. I was pleased to see that your legacy is alive visa vis Front Runners running club. They enable people to leave candles on another format that you invented. It brought a big smile to me and I immediately thought of you.

Joe Molaski

27 September 2006

Oh, Mike, how the years pass us by. It was in the early 90’s that we met and spent many an hour playing backgammon over the net, in the days when the Internet was pretty much text-based. The games were always enjoyable, though I cannot remember winning a single one, and the kibbitzing was all the better 😉 I think of those times very fondly, for the friendship we shared. Just thinking of you today … and whenever the word backgammon pops to mind. -Steve

Steve Ryder

20 June 2005

Dearest Michael,

I never met you, but I certainly knew of you, because we shared the same Uncle John and cousins Maureen and Eddie. I want to thank you for creating this site. I’m imaging conversations on the other side between you and my brother, Paul. He was brilliant, too. With gratitude and love,

Lisa Forman

11 March 2003

Too cold to hang around your grave this year Mike. But I did remember, on that day. Who should I meet on the subway yesterday but Craig and Greg. Still together, still with a store.

Gerald Hannon

12 April 2002

I want to thank you for createing the easiest way for me to visit my father whenever the mood strikes me, no matter if his “cemetery” is closed or not I can come here, send him some flowers and ‘talk’ to him. My father is my guidance even past his death and no matter what being able to ‘talk’ to him always means the world to me! Thank you so much for such a wonderful idea, may God Bless you and keep you close at hand! I am sure you were a very special man! Lori

Lori Wilch

20 February 2002

Cousin, you are my greatest inspiration. I miss you — Erica

Erica Bell

8 March 2000

Well Mike, the number of roses equals the number of years now. First time, though, that the weather hasn’t been so crappy that I’ve tossed them and run! I could linger this time, and think. It was good to do.

Gerald Hannon

11 January 2000

I am sitting here in tears because these tributes are truly remarkable and beautiful and because I and everyone else I know have been blessed with a way to pay tribute to our loved one whenever, wherever, we may be. Thank You Michael. You were truly an Angel before your time.

Rhunette Smith

11 December 1999

Although we have never met this was left out of respect. It has been way too long since flowers have been left. I am a part of the proof now that your life here on earth has been and is still effecting the living on this planet. Your site/creation has truly touched me!

To those who come to see,
who here in grave is laid,
death is your lot,
forget it not,
a debt that must be paid.

Todd Pire

9 May 1999

What an amazing idea this is, and how poignant that Michael was able to set it up before his own death. I survived Hodgkin’s Disease in 1980, despite doctors predicting that I would not do so. I have watched my children grow up and get married, have recently become a grandfather, and have accepted more easily the recent diagnosis of an untreatable leukemia, balancing it against these extra years and experiences. I have learned to value every day of my life, something most people never do. I am sorry that Mike did not get that chance.

Jim McNulty
Scotland, UK

8 March 1999

Back again this year, Mike, with three roses. Too much snow on the ground to find your exact spot, but roses plunged into a snowbank looked weird enough to have amused you. Called your mom too, as I promised I would. She’s fine — bought a new condo! You’d have liked that — always worried how your friends and family would make out.

Gerald Hannon

13 December 1998

This is such a truly wonderful idea. What a tribute to Michael, lasting and forever.

Ginny Seaholm

21 June 1998

I never knew Michael, and I would never have known of him if I hadn’t lost my brother Gary. Looking at what Michael has created here it astounds me. It is wonderful that Michael was prepared for the inevitability of death and equally great that he has offered the opportunity to the families of the dead to express their grief and share their feelings. This site is an outstanding achievement and a great personal statement of human kindness and understanding. God Bless You Michael. ;o)

Carol Johnson

21 April 1998

Special man, gone but oh so definitely not forgotten. I always smile when I think about you, your enthusiasm for life and your smile, it always made me smile back (and still does). Wish I could have known you when I was “grown up” but no regrets, life is too short. See you later.

Douglas

Douglas J. Pinheiro

8 March 1998

Today’s the first anniversary of your death, Mike, and I put three roses on your grave. A miserable, cold and stormy day. The stone is finally there, marking your spot. I miss you still.

Gerald Hannon

1 August 1997

Hello All, I am writing to tell everyone that I miss Mike very much, especially now that I have to figure my computer problems out for myself 🙂 For all of you who were close to Mike, his cat, Silky, is doing very well. I look forward to reading all of his “flowers” and would like to say hello to his mother, Andria, whom I know will be visiting this site.

Joe Molaski

6 April 1997

I am sorry that I did not have an opportunity to say goodbye. You will be remembered with many happy moments.

Glennice (Burns) Snyder

25 March 1997

You have been my dearest friend and greatest inspiration Mike.
It has been an honor to share in your life. I will miss you always. — Steve

Stephan Brauer

16 March 1997

Dedication in the HTML Sourcebook, Third Edition

This book is dedicated to my friend, Mike Kibbee. Mike died on the eighth of March, 1997 after a six year battle with Hodgkin’s disease. He was 33 years old.

In the last years of his life, Mike took up an active interest in the Internet and the Web (he was by training a civil engineer). He was quick to grasp the great changes this new technology were bringing, and found in this virtual world a way to stay socially active, when his body no longer let him participate actively in the physical one. Consequently, Mike was active in many cancer-related newsgroups, looking for answers, debunking those who offered false cures and hopes, and providing advice and comfort for those in need.

During this time he also developed the World Wide Web Cemetery, available at the URL https://cemetery.org/ He felt that, as the Web had become so much a part of his life, he wanted a way to make a permanent contribution to this community. The World Wide Web Cemetery is in this sense his legacy to the world.

Mike was a great friend — a good listener, a good conversationalist, and a person who exuded enthusiasm and verve even in the last months when he knew his death was imminent. Mike and I used to spend hours talking about the latest in Web technologies, new things that would be “in the next edition”, and about the future of it all. Even in the last painful months, Mike kept up an avid interest in my books, and was constantly asking how the writing was going, kindly reminding me that it was all worth it when I had the audacity to complain about the workload. Unfortunately, he died before I was able to show him the first printings of the third edition, and the dedication to him.

I miss him greatly.

Ian S. Graham

Michael Kibbee ✵ 1964-1997

1994

Interview in Chicago, 1996


Name at birth:	Michael Stanley Kibbee
Date of birth:	February 5, 1964
Place of birth:	Brockville, Ontario, Canada
Date of death:	March 8, 1997
Place of death:	Toronto, Canada
Resting place:	Toronto Necropolis, Canada
Submitted by:	Gerald Hannon

Lives Lived – The Globe and Mail, March 20, 1997 – by Gerald Hannon

Michael Stanley Kibbee, M.Sc., P.Eng.

Born in Brockville, Ontario, February 5, 1964.
Grew up in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
Died in Toronto March 8, 1997, of Hodgkins Disease.

I measure the beginning of the days of his dying by the sweet smell of pine boards, freshly cut, stacked neatly in the hallway of his apartment. He was an engineer, and when he learned he was dying of cancer he coped by making his death a project: he would design and build his own coffin. He was an engineer, but he was also a gay man. He said he could not bear the thought of leaving this world in some tacky commercial box, all plush and brass and gee-gaws. He insisted on simple pine, and he designed the pattern and angling of the boards, specified a lining of unbleached, raw cotton, bridled at the suggestion he be buried in a suit, asked only to be shrouded in that same raw fabric.

He had the startling individuality of a man who had never owned a television. He had the not always endearing social awkwardness of a man who had never read fiction. That lapse frequently led him to believe that people would behave reasonably, if only they knew the facts, and I would say, “oh Mike, read some stories, it’s fiction gets you truth” and he would just wince and we would segue into half a night sometimes of argument and laughter and he would try to explain to me, with his meticulous little ink drawings, how a two-stroke engine worked and I would play him some music I loved and more often than not we would end up in a paroxysm of perfect geekiness about computers and the Internet, a passion we shared. His geekiness could be stellar: he yelped with glee when the Globe and Mail published his Morning Smile submission (“What do seagulls use to write their letters? Birdperfect”).

But it was geekiness with sex appeal too: he was a handsome man, and he knew it, and he favoured plaid shirts, and jeans, and a black bomber jacket, no matter how cold the weather. He lived his final days in a tiny rented house, just nine feet wide, not much bigger than a garage, and half of what might have been called the living room was consumed by a motorcycle he thought too beautiful to ride. He owned a second, though, and took friends on nerve-shattering, late-night freeway runs, never quite noticing, I think, how their exhilaration was tinged with more than a little terror. He also owned a small boat, a Zodiac inflatable. He would indulge my passion for fireworks by taking me out on the water to watch the Symphony of Fire, and the first time we did that we never noticed that we’d come unmoored, and had drifted past the police safety line, and into the danger zone, where the sky writhed with fire just above our heads. He tried never to own more than two plates, two bowls, two forks, two knives, two spoons and two drinking glasses: but the glasses had to be crystal, and had to come from Ashley’s.

His work as an engineer was a closed world to me, but his eccentrically creative solutions (sometimes to problems that were thought not to have any) dazzled his colleagues. When his Hodgkins returned, after a three-year remission, he was working on the Hibernia project in Newfoundland. He was the youngest engineer ever hired to do so.

He returned to Toronto then, for a bone-marrow transplant and one last painful round of chemo and radiation. It didn’t work, but it bought him some time. He began to design his coffin. And he began the development, with his friend Steve Brauer, of what would become the World Wide Cemetery. It was a stroke of genius. It meant that a son, now living in Australia, say, could “visit” his father’s grave just by turning on a computer, even though the body may have been physically interred in Canada. Visitors could leave “flowers”: typically a short poem, or message of condolence. The site could have photographs, sound clips, even short video clips. The wonderful interconnectivity of the Web made it easy to link deaths (and the marvelous details of lives) of family members who may have died years apart and in different countries.

The project attracted international media attention. The Discovery Channel* in the U.S. filmed him for a segment on Death in America, and newspapers in Europe and the United States did features on this skinny, wasting young man, working so feverishly to complete a project he saw as his memorial and legacy.

When he began it, he did not think he had much time, and he hoped that it would be complete enough when he died that it could be inaugurated with his “burial.” But one of those unpredictable cancer remissions happened, and when it was clear that he was going to live for a while longer, I brought up, gently, that maybe he wouldn’t be the first one in the cemetery after all.

“Oh I know,” he said, with that antic smile that carried us through one more summer of remission; one more summer of headlong motorcycling that would wrap the midnight city round us like a flag; one more summer of drifting too far out into a lake that mirrored a sky weeping with fire. “Oh, I know,” he said, “I know. Isn’t that a bummer!”

*Although this is the text as it originally appeared in The Globe and Mail, we were in error in saying that the documentary was made for the Discovery Channel. It is in fact a project of World Productions producer/director, J.R. Olivero.

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