RastaPope
Dead is dead.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2002
- Posts
- 4,222
I often post at another forum. Place called Fark.com.
This past weekend, we lost one of our own in a car accident. Cliff was a well known and well liked guy on the boards, often hung at the Fark Drinking Parties that happen here and there. The show of support from the posters was nothing short of immense, and really gracious considering how most of us there are huge asshats. I'd like to post now, a message from his father. I know none of you knew Cliff, but it's really a message that speaks to us all.
----------------------------------------------------
Kilipo4 IS MY SON
This message is being posted by a friend of mine for me. I hope that I can convey my thoughts and feelings in some sort of an understandable manner.
Yesterday I saw my son for the first time in about two weeks. He did not look the same as the last time I saw him. Yesterday he was in his coffin. My wife and I and his Mother are living a parent?s worst nightmare: burying your own child.
During the visitation and viewing last night my family was shown such a wonderful outpouring of love, compassion and sorrow by those who know us and my son, Cliff.
Near the end of the evening I was given a binder containing about 75 pages of an on-line community?s postings. This was from a website called Fark.com. At the time I gave it but a glance. At home later that night while checking my e-mail I received from my friend a link to the postings in reference to my son. Remembering the binder, I hit the link. After reading for a short time I had a feeling that something was different here. Having not ever been here before I felt a sense of loss in this community. Much like the loss in my own heart. Like the small town I grew up in, when something bad happened, all felt the pain, or at least most.
Many people have told me that I knew my son better than most parents ever could. I don?t know if this is true or not. I am learning now that much of the way I thought Cliff lived is not entirely on the mark. I am gaining a greater appreciation for how he moved from day to day and what a good person he truly was. He was a freshman at Texas Tech University. Living entirely on his own for the first time. Six hours away from home and loving it! No more parents to say ?do this, don?t do that?! Eighteen years old and living life his way. Being his Dad, I was only able to hear a small part of what he did in the course of his days. His friends are filling in a lot of gaps for us now. ?Cliff touched a lot of people. I got to know him and we hung out a lot. Sometimes we skipped a class because we hung out too long and decided we didn?t need to go to that class anyway.? Yeah, I knew that he probably didn?t go to all his classes like the perfect son I raised, but he was doing what I had hoped he would when I helped push him 300 miles away to go to school. He was living.
Cliff took a trip last weekend, one that would end up in tragedy. He and three of his friends drove from Lubbock to El Paso to visit some friends and family. On the trip back to school an accident occurred. My son, Clifford Wallace Wilson died. Having not been there, I am not able to judge or know exactly what happened. Many lives were forever changed. Two of his friends will be physically OK. A third was seriously injured and will require a great amount of care, surgery and help to return to a semblance of normalcy. All three have been severely hurt by this accident. If not physically then surely emotionally. I have not yet been blessed with knowing these young adults yet but hope to meet them soon. If my son chose to be with them, I know they are good people. Perfect? Probably not, but good people. Exactly the type of people I wish for as friends for my son.
Cliff was fortunate to experience a lot of things in the too short time here with us. The thing that we know that he experienced a lot of was love. Each of his parents tried to always make certain he knew he was loved. I cannot remember an end to an e-mail, IM, phone call or any departure from him that was not ended with: ?I love you? from him. He always made sure we knew he loved us too. When I wrote his obituary I made reference to all of the friends he had across the continent from Oregon to Florida. After reading the postings from your group I realize that he had touched even more people in some form than I had previously thought. If not directly then with a much softer touch, being equally effective.
Reading through the comments on Fark, I saw some references to making a donation to the scholarship fund that we have established. That is a beautiful thing to do for him. Not being of his ability or knowledge I don?t know how the donations are done through Pay-pal. I can give the address to where donations can be sent:
The Cliff Wilson Scholarship Endowment
c/o Texas Tech University, College of Engineering
Box 43103
Lubbock, TX 79409
Attn: Jenny James
If you are able to donate, thank you in advance. If not, please keep his sense of humor and playful irreverence alive. Continue to post @ Fark.com.
One day when I am able, a posting from kilipo4 may appear on fark.com. I will have retrieved his computer and learned a lot more about your community before this will happen. I wish only to preserve his memory, and try to share something of what he must have truly enjoyed.
If you have read this far, thank you for putting up with the ramblings of a very sad father. In his memory, if you care for someone please let them know. Cliff did.
This past weekend, we lost one of our own in a car accident. Cliff was a well known and well liked guy on the boards, often hung at the Fark Drinking Parties that happen here and there. The show of support from the posters was nothing short of immense, and really gracious considering how most of us there are huge asshats. I'd like to post now, a message from his father. I know none of you knew Cliff, but it's really a message that speaks to us all.
----------------------------------------------------
Kilipo4 IS MY SON
This message is being posted by a friend of mine for me. I hope that I can convey my thoughts and feelings in some sort of an understandable manner.
Yesterday I saw my son for the first time in about two weeks. He did not look the same as the last time I saw him. Yesterday he was in his coffin. My wife and I and his Mother are living a parent?s worst nightmare: burying your own child.
During the visitation and viewing last night my family was shown such a wonderful outpouring of love, compassion and sorrow by those who know us and my son, Cliff.
Near the end of the evening I was given a binder containing about 75 pages of an on-line community?s postings. This was from a website called Fark.com. At the time I gave it but a glance. At home later that night while checking my e-mail I received from my friend a link to the postings in reference to my son. Remembering the binder, I hit the link. After reading for a short time I had a feeling that something was different here. Having not ever been here before I felt a sense of loss in this community. Much like the loss in my own heart. Like the small town I grew up in, when something bad happened, all felt the pain, or at least most.
Many people have told me that I knew my son better than most parents ever could. I don?t know if this is true or not. I am learning now that much of the way I thought Cliff lived is not entirely on the mark. I am gaining a greater appreciation for how he moved from day to day and what a good person he truly was. He was a freshman at Texas Tech University. Living entirely on his own for the first time. Six hours away from home and loving it! No more parents to say ?do this, don?t do that?! Eighteen years old and living life his way. Being his Dad, I was only able to hear a small part of what he did in the course of his days. His friends are filling in a lot of gaps for us now. ?Cliff touched a lot of people. I got to know him and we hung out a lot. Sometimes we skipped a class because we hung out too long and decided we didn?t need to go to that class anyway.? Yeah, I knew that he probably didn?t go to all his classes like the perfect son I raised, but he was doing what I had hoped he would when I helped push him 300 miles away to go to school. He was living.
Cliff took a trip last weekend, one that would end up in tragedy. He and three of his friends drove from Lubbock to El Paso to visit some friends and family. On the trip back to school an accident occurred. My son, Clifford Wallace Wilson died. Having not been there, I am not able to judge or know exactly what happened. Many lives were forever changed. Two of his friends will be physically OK. A third was seriously injured and will require a great amount of care, surgery and help to return to a semblance of normalcy. All three have been severely hurt by this accident. If not physically then surely emotionally. I have not yet been blessed with knowing these young adults yet but hope to meet them soon. If my son chose to be with them, I know they are good people. Perfect? Probably not, but good people. Exactly the type of people I wish for as friends for my son.
Cliff was fortunate to experience a lot of things in the too short time here with us. The thing that we know that he experienced a lot of was love. Each of his parents tried to always make certain he knew he was loved. I cannot remember an end to an e-mail, IM, phone call or any departure from him that was not ended with: ?I love you? from him. He always made sure we knew he loved us too. When I wrote his obituary I made reference to all of the friends he had across the continent from Oregon to Florida. After reading the postings from your group I realize that he had touched even more people in some form than I had previously thought. If not directly then with a much softer touch, being equally effective.
Reading through the comments on Fark, I saw some references to making a donation to the scholarship fund that we have established. That is a beautiful thing to do for him. Not being of his ability or knowledge I don?t know how the donations are done through Pay-pal. I can give the address to where donations can be sent:
The Cliff Wilson Scholarship Endowment
c/o Texas Tech University, College of Engineering
Box 43103
Lubbock, TX 79409
Attn: Jenny James
If you are able to donate, thank you in advance. If not, please keep his sense of humor and playful irreverence alive. Continue to post @ Fark.com.
One day when I am able, a posting from kilipo4 may appear on fark.com. I will have retrieved his computer and learned a lot more about your community before this will happen. I wish only to preserve his memory, and try to share something of what he must have truly enjoyed.
If you have read this far, thank you for putting up with the ramblings of a very sad father. In his memory, if you care for someone please let them know. Cliff did.
