Sad news for members of the old Knox board

[eggman]

TJ will be missed. He helped me a lot at the old Knox board when I first started on the pipe. The last box pass I was in here I still have the tin he put in for everyone with the sticker compliments from TJ's cellar. He also gave me a few recomendations on a some cigars as well. A truely great man that will be missed.

 

[Mikem]

Wow, very sad news indeed. I still regret not being able to attend the Smoke Out at his place during the old Knox days. TJ was always instrumental with the early Spring Forward Box Passes and was always asking about my son who is in the Navy. As Puros said, I'll bet he and Ken are having a grand ole time while enjoying a bowl together. If Heaven doesn't need a banker I'm sure TJ has convinced the Boss that he does and how to invest his streets of gold so that they become streets of platinum.

 

[Vito]

The Brotherhood of Sonora started on the Knox board, and was a big part of the foundation of this board. It extended beyond those who attended the event, as Jason well knows, and so do Yak, Carlos, pb, gatewheel (JT), SlowPuffs, alfredo buscatti, and gospelman too...and prolly some others whom I'm forgetting. They were all there in spirit.

Those who attended in the flesh were TJ (Tom), LL (George), cdstuart (Charles), CP (Gary), Puff Daddy (Jim), glpease (Greg), and yours truly. But the heart of the event—the real heart, the thing that set the tone—was TJ, Jonnie, and their friend Jean.

It was the kind of thing that happens in a dream. Something about people of good will always assuming the best of each other, not the worst. I think that's why it spilled over and affected so many others.

It was a dream, and dreams are tenuous things. But for a while, it was a good dream. A very good dream. It never would have happened without TJ.

"Vito have sad."

 

[LL]

Did anyone else notice that the entire board virtually shut down the day after this announcement?

The closest thing to a collective moment of silence I've ever seen here, and infinitely more meaningful because it was entirely unplanned.

I truly hope the Universe allows for such things to known by the departed.

 

[Tak]

I think the universe knows and I think TJ knows.
I'm glad for the moment of silence. It's very meaningful.

Tak

 

[gospelman]

Very sad news indeed. The Brotherhood is poorer now for the loss, but I and all who had contact, (internet or otherwise) with TJ are richer for the experience.

When I first joined up on the old Knox Board, I wasn't exactly a newb to pipe smoking, but my choice of tobaco was pretty much limited to Captain Black. Through counseling from people like TJ, Vito, Sailorman Jack, and many others, my tobacco horizons expanded tremendously. But beyond that, the friendship and comraderie extended by those gentlemen was priceless.

I find the same spirit alive and well on this board, and I am so thankful for it (even though I don't get on here as much as I should!).

RIP my brother.

Mike

 

[puros_bran]

He's still on the top ten poster list...
If anyone that didn't know him wants a glimpse just go up to 'memberlist' sort by 'pist count' click on hid name and over on the right there's a find all topics button.

 

[Vito]

"End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path… One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.


White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

:joker:

 

[Carlos]

"End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path… One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.


White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

:joker:

From Lord of the Rings. A line by Gandalf. Actually part of a conversation.

 

[Vito]

"End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path… One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.


White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

:joker:

From Lord of the Rings. A line by Gandalf. Actually part of a conversation.

Right...a conversation between Gandalf and Pippin during the siege of Minas Tirith (in the movie). Actually, Pippin replies, "That isn't so bad", to which Gandalf answers, "No, it isn't."

I don't have any idea what it's really like, of course, and no one else does either. No one comes back with a video and a detailed report. Nevertheless, I speculate that TJ is beyond pain and suffering. I suspect that the only ones who are hurting are those of us who miss his curmudgeonly, shit-stirring presence.

:joker:

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have any idea what it's really like, of course, and no one else does either. No one comes back with a video and a detailed report.

There is no shortage of accounts by people who were revived after being clinically "dead" (hospital flatlines and so forth), recounting essentially the same experience, independently of each other, and not infrequently with no previous awareness of other accounts.

The uniformity and congruence of these either indicates what's there, or gets dismissed with something like "the plural of anecdote is not data."

The approach determines the outcome.

:face:

 

[Vito]

The approach determines the outcome.

Coming from you, that pegs the irony meter.

:joker: