The World Wide Cemetery

Michael Kibbee ❀ Visitors & Flowers

Original www.cemetery.org flower

Leave a Message or Flowers

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.

Visitors & Flowers

Proprietary Rights

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Privacy Policy

1. About Your Privacy

The World Wide Cemetery (“WWC”) is dedicated to protecting your privacy and safeguarding your personal information (“Personal Information”). Your Personal Information requires protection and WWC subscribes to the privacy principles set out in the Government of Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5 (“PIPEDA”). This Privacy Policy is intended to inform you of our policies and practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of any information you submit to us through www.cemetery.org (the “Site”). By using our Site, you consent and agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information and to the privacy practices set out in this Privacy Policy. This includes Personal Information, which is information about you that is personally identifiable such as your name, e-mail address, personal address, and other non-public information that is associated with the foregoing, as well as information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information and does not permit the identification of individual persons (“Anonymous Information”).

We expressly reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an amended Privacy Policy on the Site. Continued use of the Site following any such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.

2. Why We Collect and Use Personal Information

(1) Collecting Personal Information about you is essential to our being able to provide the products and services that best meet the needs of both you, being the User as defined in the User Agreement, and/or authorized third parties (“Client”). While the Personal Information we collect may come directly from you, it may also be provided by other third parties.

(2) Personal Information may be used:

to determine eligibility for products and services;
to understand and assess a User’s ongoing needs and offer products and services to meet those needs;
for billing and accounting services relating to our products and services:
for User communication, service and administration;
for internal, external and regulatory audit purposes; or
to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

(3) Personal Information may also be used for other purposes, subject to obtaining your prior consent for such use.

3. Consent To Use Personal Information

(1) By accessing or otherwise using the Site, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and those set forth on https://cemetery.org/ (collectively, the “Agreements”). You expressly consent to the processing of your Personal Information and Anonymous Information according to this Privacy Policy.

(2) Providing us with your Personal Information is always your choice. When you request products or services from us, we ask that you provide information that enables us to respond to your request. In doing so, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure to appropriate third parties of such Personal Information for these purposes. You also authorize us to use and retain this Personal Information for as long as it may be required for the purposes described above. Your consent remains valid even after the termination of our relationship with you, unless you provide us with written notice that such consent is withdrawn. Such notice can be sent to admin@cemetery.org.

(3) In certain circumstances, consent cannot be withdrawn, such as where there is an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual, or if we must comply with a court order.

4. Sharing Personal Information With Others

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(2) WWC may provide your Personal Information to third-party service providers who work on behalf of or with us to provide some of the services and features of the Site and to help us communicate with you. Examples of such services include sending email, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing payments (including credit card payments), and providing customer service. WWC requires our third-party service providers to promise not to use such information except as necessary to provide the relevant services to us. This Privacy Policy does not cover the use of your Personal Information by such third-parties. WWC does not maintain responsibility for the manner in which third parties, including, without limitation, other partners, use or further disclose Personal Information collected from you in accordance with this Privacy Policy, after WWC has disclosed such information to those third parties. If you do not want WWC to use or disclose Personal Information collected about you in the manners identified in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Site.

(3) As WWC continues to develop and grow, WWC may buy or sell parts of its business. As WWC’s businesses consists primarily of client relationships, information regarding the particular accounts or services being purchased or sold could include Personal Information and be one of the transferred business assets.

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(5) WWC may also use this Personal Information to assess your future needs and to offer the products and services that may best meet those needs from WWC. If you do not wish to receive these offers or such information, please contact admin@cemetery.org as outlined below in the contact information section.

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(1) It is important that your Personal Information is accurate and complete. Having accurate information about you enables WWC to give you the best possible service. You have the right to access, verify and amend the information we have about you. WWC relies on you to keep us informed of any changes, such as a change of address, e-mail, or any other circumstances.

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6. How We Safeguard Personal Information

(1) At WWC, we employ physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect our systems and all Personal Information under our control against unauthorized access and use. All safety and security measures are appropriate to the sensitivity level of the information collected.

(2) Our service providers and agents are required to maintain confidentiality, and may not use the information for any unauthorized purpose.

(3) Employees are governed by strict standards and policies to ensure that Personal Information is secure and treated with the utmost care and respect.

7. Privacy and the Internet

(1) In general, WWC collects Personal Information that you submit to us voluntarily through the Site. WWC also collects information that you submit in the process of ordering from the Site. For example, WWC’s ordering process requires you to provide your name, valid email address, street address. When you use the features of the Site, WWC will collect any information you voluntarily provide, and we may also request optional information to support your use of the Site, such as other demographic information. WWC collects information in the form of the content that you submit during your use of the Site, such as photos, reviews and ratings and other information you choose to submit and we will also keep track of your account history. When you purchase products or services through the Site, you will need to submit your credit card or other payment information so that our service providers can process your payment for those products and services. If you choose to sign up to receive information about products or services that may be of interest to you, we will collect your email address and all related information. Additionally, we collect any information that you voluntarily enter on the Site, including Personal Information into any postings, comments, or forums within the Site’s community.

(2) As you use the Site, certain information may also be passively collected and stored on our or our service providers’ server logs, including your Internet protocol address, browser type, and operating system.

(3) The WWC Site may contain links to other third party sites that are not governed by this Privacy Policy. Although WWC endeavours to link only to sites with high privacy standards, our Privacy Policy will no longer apply once you leave this Site. WWC is not responsible for privacy policies employed by other third parties or any foreign affiliates, since they would be governed by privacy legislation applicable in their country of residence. WWC suggests, therefore, that you examine the privacy statements of those sites to learn how Personal Information may be collected, used and/or disclosed.

(4) WWC offers you choices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Information. When you receive promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further promotional communications from WWC and you will have the opportunity to “opt-out” by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the promotional e-mail you receive or by contacting WWC directly at admin@cemetery.org. Despite your indicated email preferences, WWC may send you administrative emails regarding the Site, including, for example, administrative confirmations, and notices of updates to our Privacy Policy if we choose to provide such notices to you in this manner.

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By using the Site, you are representing that you are at least 18 years old. Children under the age of 18 are not permitted to use the Site unless they have parental or guardian consent.

9. Contact Information

Please contact admin@cemetery.org to obtain further information about our policies and procedures or if you have any unresolved enquiries or concerns or if you want to reach our Privacy.

Book Dedication

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.

I miss him greatly.

Ian S. Graham

March 16, 1997

The Classic Design ❀ 1995-2014

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)

The Classic Design