The World Wide Cemetery

Dedication in the HTML Sourcebook, Third Edition, by Ian S. Graham, 1997

John Wiley and Sons 

(ISBN 0-471-17575-7)

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

March 16, 1997

Based on the Internet Archive, www.cemetery.org is

the oldest online cemetery and memorial site in the world.  

See the archival documentation by clicking here.

Mike’s original 1995 vision for the World Wide Cemetery

When a person we love or are close to dies, the desire to communicate our loss is both natural and strong. We use the media—all forms of print, as well as radio and television—to notify others of a loved one’s passing.

The Internet represents humankind’s greatest revolution in communication since Gutenberg invented movable type. The World Wide Web, shared globally by more than 30 million people, is an ideal place to announce the loss of someone we cherish and to erect a permanent monument to their memory. Such virtual monuments, unlike real ones, will not weather with the passage of time and can be visited easily by people from around the world.

Monuments in the World Wide Cemetery allow people to share the lives of their loved ones in ways that traditional printed death announcements or stone inscriptions cannot. Photographs, moving images and even sounds can be included with a monument. People can create hypertext links among family members, and in doing so forge a genealogy of Internet users and their families online and in real time.

The World Wide Cemetery is open to people of all religious faiths, and will allow us all to share the lives of our loved ones with people the world over. It is our sincerest hope that, when you erect a monument to a loved one in the World Wide Cemetery, doing so will provide you with a measure of solace, and, if you are walking through the Cemetery, that you delight and wonder in the diversity, uniqueness and accomplishments of its inhabitants.

Under no circumstances will we share or market your personal information.

I have the strange privilege of being able to contribute to my own monument. I’ve really enjoyed working on the World Wide Cemetery. It’s been a labour of love inspired by my confronting my own mortality. I hope you, the Internet community, feel it is a worthy addition to the World Wide Web and embrace it. — Mike Kibbee, Toronto, April 1995

While all the gods are blessed, Love — be it said in all reverence —

is the blessedest of all,  for he is the loveliest and the best  (Plato)

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Note the Number and go Back to Form

Memorials can be visited freely by anyone anytime.

To leave a message or photo on a visitor’s page, please use the boxes below.

 All messages are moderated to guard online graves from inappropriate comments and spam.

Once your message is sent to us, we insert it for you.

Please pay for your longer message and optional photo ($9, credit, debit or PayPal)

Our Promises

•  We will never charge you an annual fee, or ask you to create an account and select a password.

•  We will preserve the serenity of the entire cemetery; you will never see advertising on your memorial.

•  We will never share or sell your personal information or spam you. We do not track you.

•  We will reliably, personally, and quickly address your requests and questions.

Our Requirements

•  Memorials must be respectful and honest.

•  Memorials are for close friends or family members.

•  This cemetery is for deceased human beings (although we love our pets).

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