From a comment submitted through Gahrie's account, to a post from last Saturday, "In the debate about whether to take the woke version of progressivism seriously as a revolutionary ideology....":
Hello. My name is Thom Kirby. This is my brother gahries account, and it appears this post was close to the last thing he read/saw before he passed away Sunday morning sometime after 130am. I am not sure how much you interacted with him but I know he always read this blog. I can be reached at tfkirby@gmail.com. He was a teacher and they will be creating a scholarship in his name at AB miller high school in fontana ca. I do not knwo this community and his part in it but if people wish they can email me their thoughts on my brother.
He would want us all to get on with living our best lives.
Thanks for writing, Thom. And thanks to Gahrie for being part of the Althouse comments community. Thanks to everyone who has participated in this community, including those who may slip away some morning without a way to let us know you have gone.
Posts
112 comments:
God bless him and may his family find comfort.
You will be missed Gahrie. Brins to mind the late Chip Ahoy. Also still missed. Amazing how you can feel so close to commenters on the internet. I will include Thom and his family in my prayers.
I've lost an arch enemy - a true thorn in my side here - and I feel awful.
So long, G. Give 'em Hell.
Fuck.
My wife has no idea what blogs I read. If I slip away, I'll just be... gone.
The internet is forever, but we are not.
I liked Gahrie and his way of thinking quite a lot- I had great respect for him and his input here will be sorely missed by me, and I am sure will be missed by others.
To his family- I am so very sorry for your loss.
Goodbye, Gahrie. And God bless. Thanks for all your contributions to this special place.
Oh my gosh - as some here who have struggled through my never-brief posts may remember, Gahrie and I went to high school together in England. He and his debate partner beat me and mine in the All-UK competition when I was a junior and he a senior, using a hypothetical that did the near-impossible - tangled my tongue into silence. He teased us about it but was never, ever mean. He was smart, articulate, and passionate in his convictions. Because we were in a DoDDS school, we all scattered to the four winds after graduation, and I only saw him once in all the ensuing years, when we were both in our twenties.
Gary Kirby was an all-around good guy in high school, and I have no doubt he was a good man throughout his too-short life. Gary, I'm going to miss you.
Shocked and very sorry to read this. Gahrie held consistent views, to the best of my knowledge reading here, and was very capable in supporting his points. I assume his passing came as a surprise, and it is sure a bad one. My sympathies to his brother and other family.
Thank you for sharing, Thom. Sorry for your loss and ours as a community. Rest peacefully, Gahrie.
RIP Gabriel!
Yes Leland, thank you, Thom. Sorry for everyone’s loss.
Argh #@!#!@#$ Safari autocorrect! My last post should have read: RIP Gahrie.
So sad to read this. I feel like I've lost a member of my circle of friends. All of you who comment regularly, and those who just show up once in a while, are a part of my daily routine. I feel like I get a dose of each of you everyday- for better or for worse. :) But it always leaves me walking away thinking. And after a time, you do feel like people I know, even though I know none of you.
Gahrie was one of those people. RIP Gahrie. We'll miss you here.
My condolences to you and your family, Thom. RIP Gahrie.
This is a sad thing to read. Thom, I'm sorry you have lost a sibling. My brother's death meant I had to redefine myself and that's tough.
Thank you for reaching out to our host.
Gahrie was unique in his take on topics. Always some new perspective to consider.
I hope Thom comes back to see all the memorials posted here for the next few days.
I post here irregularly, and so don't really feel myself part of this community. But I do read it multiple times a day. And whenever I don't see comments from someone who normally posts regularly, I wonder, as I suspect many do, whether their absence is due to illness or death. It makes for a strange relationship with Ann's blog, acquaintances that are intimate in the sharing of beliefs, but remote in all other ways. Though I recognize the name, I wasn't aware of Gahrie particularly, but I'm certain his passing diminishes what I take from this blog. Others have dropped off as well. And there are many others still here, who are a part of my every day.
So sad. I will miss Gahrie. Always loved his contributions to the conversations. He will definitely be missed. RIP
Didn't really recall him that much, but looking at that last comment he wrote, he was dead-on correct. Requiescat in Pace, bro.
I dropped an email to his brother.
Damn. I will miss him greatly. My condolences to his family and friends.
Damn.
Althouse is not just a blog. It is a community and I stay for (most of) the regulars. I never skimmed a Gahrie post. We are lessened by his passing. My condolences to his loved ones.
Will miss him. Good comments. Good guy.
And, yes, the Althouse blog and comments community are all a part of our lives. And we are the better for it.
Gahrie helped make this "special place" what it is, supplying his own dose of heterodoxy from his own vantage point.
Thank you, Gahrie, thank you, Thom--and thank you, Ann Althouse, for making it all possible.
RIP, Gahrie.
My condolences to all his loved ones.
So sorry to hear- I too appreciated Gharie's comments and will let his family know. I will also take a moment to recall the other commentariat who have past even if I only recall their Althandle and thumbnail photo...
I clicked on the late’s commenter’s tag and… he was a life saving hero.
In his own words: I was a longterm substitute teacher at a middle school that took the entire 7th grade to the museums and beach in San Diego. The kids were allowed to go in the water, and at least half did. I was the only teacher in the water. Six kids, all of whom were chronic trouble makers I later discovered, got caught in a rip current and were trapped where the waves were breaking also. No one noticed but me, and I immediately swam out to them without thinking. All six grabbed on to me, and thank god I am a large man (buoyant), or I would not have been able to keep the seven of us up. The lifeguards eventually saw us and rescued all of us. They said I probably saved the life of at least a couple of the kids who were exhausted.
When I finally got the shakes and reacted, the scariest thing to me was that I didn't think about what I was doing, and instead just reacted.
Thanks for sharing Althouse. I would’ve missed it if you hadn’t mentioned it. I’m like Joe Rogan; i don’t read the comments 😉
God speed. He will be missed.
I've been following this blog since at least the days of the insurrection at the Wisconsin state capitol building, and have enjoyed hearing from the regulars of the commentariat (well, Inga and Chuck not so much--but you can't have everything). Gahrie was one of those regulars, whose thoughts were always focused and on point. I considered him an essential part of the fabric of this blog, and doff my cap to him on his passing.
It is indeed, as others have already noted, a moment to reflect on this community, of which I also feel a happy member. I may not comment as frequently as many, but that's often because someone else has already made my point better than I could.
Remember that short period when the Professor dumped comments altogether? It became a strangely barren and unwelcoming place, and I contemplated skipping it because I missed the snark, insights, and back-and-forth. This is a unique site, as far as I can tell, and I continue to be grateful to our hostess and provocateuse. I appreciate your consistency, generosity, and even your pose of cruel neutrality. You have enabled the Gahries of the world to participate in a very rare activity: civilized conversation.
RIP Gahrie. Super solid as a commentor here and a gentleman. Always a pleasure to read his viewpoint.
I only have one request for when I die
I want my comments in my coffin
I want to show Michael or is it Peter
I was right about everything
#TrumpChallenge
I've reached out to his school to see about how they are commemorating him. I am given to understand many of his students loved and respected him.
I’m sad to hear of Gahrie’s passing. I remember replying recently to one of his comments, I think about music in an open thread a few weeks back. As others have said, there really is a sense of community here among the commenters, and we are diminished by his loss. Rest in peace, Gary.
Thank you so much, Gahrie's family, for letting us know. It matters, and he mattered. He was buoyant in more than one way.
Very sorry to hear that he's passed. He seems like someone I'd have enjoyed as a teacher and I hope he is well remembered by his students as he is by other commentors here.
(What an amazing note to receive, btw)
“Arise, arise,” he cried so loud
In a voice without restraint
“Come out, ye gifted kings and queens
And hear my sad complaint
No martyr is among ye now
Whom you can call your own
So go on your way accordingly
But know you’re not alone”
May the eternal light shine upon him.
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
A virtual chair at Ann's table is empty.
I must be honest here, I simply don't recall him even though I've been coming here almost since this blogs inception. The reason for that is that I seldom read the posters' names because my interest is in what's being written, not who's writing it.
But every now and then I read something and the curiosity to know what sort of idiot would write something that stupid forces me to look. And it tends to always be the same three or four posters. And obviously, Gahrie wasn't one of them.
In any event, my sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Crack- he would surely feel as you.
I ditto every single comment.
Gahrie- I’ll be listening for your voice in the breath of the Angels’ choir!!!
Such a sad loss for us- such a great gain for Heaven.
RIP, Gahrie. His comments were always of interest and the teaching experiences he shared were enlightening.
Really nice of you to share this, Ann. Your caring touch is part of what makes this place so special. And I think it's also part of why just about everyone appears to make an effort to stay respectful and civil even on very contentious topics. Your hospitality and fair treatment of every visitor is appreciated at least as much as your intellect and insights. In time, even occasional visitors come to realize your cruel neutrality isn't all that cruel. Thanks. (You too, Meade.)
RIP Gahrie. Like love, teaching is a battlefield. Thanks for your service, and for your commentary. You'll be missed.
My condolences to hia friends and family.
I remember the riptide post. God bless Gahrie.
How terrible.
Death is grotesque.
His brother wrote back. The poor guy was only 58 years old.
Somehow, a part of me is crushed. Gahrie left a mark.
Goodbye Gahrie, may you find happiness, contentment and a woman you would’ve liked in life on earth, in the hereafter.
A huge loss. RIP.
Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
RIP, Gahrie - and thanks.
Planetgeo - Well said!
I enjoyed his comments, and I will miss his presence here. He seemed to have a solid grasp of reality although reality no longer has a solid grip on him. I hope there's a better place hereafter because some people deserve a better place.
Requiescat in pace, Gahrie.
I'm sorry to hear he passed. I didn't know him but it kind of feels like I did. It is amazing how much a person's personality can come through from just an online username and their thoughts shared in good faith. My condolences to his friends and family.
Adding my condolences to Gahrie's family and friends. And sending sympathy to the Althouse commentator community. I rarely post but read every post and comment. I'll miss reading Gahrie's posts.
RIP Gahrie. I was out of action the past month with a spine fracture and was touched that a couple were concerned. I'm still around at 85. Sorry about Gahrie.
I'm having a wake for Gahrie
Oh wow, how sad. I will miss seeing his name in the comments. I clicked on a random post that he was tagged in and noticed a bunch of old commenters: DBQ and Maybee. Sigh.
Happy Trails compadre. Will be in touch later on.
RIP Gahrie.
Michael K said...
"I'm still around at 85."
85? Whoa. You talk shit like a kid. Good on you, though we'll never agree on anything. Gahrie and I didn't either. No biggie.
Stay good
He shall be sorely missed from our group here.
May he rest in peace.
@Jamie,
Gahrie was always upfront about his teaching life, but less so about his life before. Thanks for the additional bio information!
A reasonable, articulate commentariat is so rare in these times, I am grateful for all of you. It has crossed my mind that the average age of the regulars must be "up there" and I would think Gahrie to be on the younger side. He will be missed. One day we will all read or write our last posts. Try to make them good ones.
Nice story, Jamie. RIP, Gahrie.
Goodbye, Gahrie - I never looked to see who you were but I read all your comments. Sorry to lose you.
Bummer. I knew he was in this same area but was unaware he worked at AB Miller high, a school I used to teach at several years ago. What a nice note from his brother and thank you to Althouse for sharing it with us. May God bless his family and friends. And all of you!
RIP Gahrie. Like some others here, I'm not a heavy commenter, but I do read the blog regularly and knew he was a smart and decent guy, as exemplified by his last post.
I ditto everything said by everybody. I sent Gahrie's brother a note and hope he keeps us posted on the memorial fund project. Death carries us off so soon, and those who survive us are left strange remnants to fashion into something like a semblance of who we were and what we meant. Gahrie's memorials include his conversations with this community; a mosaic of thoughts, words, questions, jokes, made partly of him and partly of us, bickering, laughing, finding insight, and always, always trying for a little truth.
God bless all of you. Yeah, Crack, you too.
RIP Brother!
I will miss him too. He was part of the Althouse commentators before this blog became people yelling from the sidelines for their home team like in a football game. Now all the commentators just shout from their own echo chamber. It's like everyone here is living in their own Borg. "You will be assimilated." I long for the good old days on this blog. RSP Gahrie.
Sorry to hear he passed.
RIP
“The poor guy was only 58 years old.”
Sad. Condolences to friends and family. Too young, too young.
You will be missed, Gahrie. I looked forward to reading his comments on the Althouse blog every day. Godspeed, Gahrie…
Scotty
Ave atque Vale.
RIP. I wonder what happened to Allen. Missing since the covid days.
The Crack Emcee writes, "I've lost an arch enemy..."
Take pride in your relationship with Gahrie. One is best judged by the quality of one's enemies.
He will be missed. RIP, brother.
"Now all the commentators just shout from their own echo chamber."
That's just Youpeopleism. Pathetic. Can't you even try?
Sorry to hear about his passing. My condolences to his brother and family. I thank him and Ann for sharing the sad news.
58 is young, for sure. He had some harrowing stories from the pub ed trenches, and I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of stress helped take him down.
How sad. One of the longtimers whose names I look for. He will be missed. My deepest sympathies to his family.
Too young. Smart guy. He'll be missed her, good thoughts for the family.
Rest in peace, Gahrie. You will be missed here, but even more so by all of the lives that you affected as a teacher.
Too young. All the best to his family
Very sad news indeed. Godspeed Gahrie, you will be missed.
I will miss your comments Gahrie. You were one of the commenters who made this site what it is. Rest in Peace brother.
RIP
Alas. Words seem cheap at such a time. A good and thoughtful guy, local to where I live. Always added to this community and no doubt even more to those who knew him. The comments are lesser from now on with him gone.
RIP Gahrie - I always enjoyed your comments, and how you often related personal stories as a teacher. I always thought "God bless that guy", teaching in today's world, particularly while not a progressive.
Now you you travel to the far lands, with white shores, a far green country, and a swift sunrise...You've earned it.
This is so sad to hear, but it’s nice (especially during such turbulent times globally) to see that his brother took the time to reach out, and the Professor took the time to post it, and the commentariat took the time to notice and appreciate and show some love.
Nice to see the love.
I liked his comments. Didn’t know his personal details. God bless him (and his brother and the rest of the family).
Crack, I am not understanding your wake, sorry - do I just watch the video? I'd like to be part of it and thank you for doing it.
Gahrie's brother Thom - it was always Thom, and we pronounced it with a soft "th" back then for the heck of it - is also a solid citizen. Thom, if you're checking in, hope you stick around. This is a good place.
I'm a little maudlin tonight.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
God bless us, every one. Amen
RIP Gahrie. I read his comments for many many years as a part of the Althouse community. But as a silent, non-commenting reader. The heartfelt comments being expressed here prompted me to go on record as part of this blog community and comment. Thank you Althouse for bringing us together.
Sad.
sad. RIP. :-(
RIP Old Friend.
Condolences to you, Thom, and your family. And thank you for helping all of us to know that he is gone, and for giving us the chance to pay our respects.
Narr said...
58 is young, for sure.
Yes. Too young.
Jamie said...
"Crack, I am not understanding your wake, sorry - do I just watch the video? I'd like to be part of it and thank you for doing it."
Yeah, that fell apart pretty quick. It's been a hard night. I haven't been dealing with this too well. A lot of tears out of nowhere. Even now, as I'm typing this. I can't really explain it. I'm just sad-as-fuck.
I feel as though I’ve lost a good friend whom I never even met face to face. Thank you, Althouse, for sharing his brother’s Email; I’ll be reaching out to him to see if I can contribute to the scholarship fund.
RIP Gahrie. Thom, condolences to you and your family.
100+ comments. Good for Gahrie.
Thank you all for the love you have shown for my brother Gary. I will be putting together something in memory of him. Not sure what it will be. I just looked up my old blog. I had something else before this... But my little blog goes back to 2004 as well. My online name has been Kirbside given to me by a coworker in 2000. I just changed it to Thom. You want a good laugh you can look at my blog here. https://kirbside.blogspot.com Hell I have been away for so long I will have to learn the process all over.
I am reaching out at this time to let you guys know that AB Miller will be doing the scholarship. Here is the relevant part of an email I got from the Principal. I will get in touch again soon. Your comments bring peace to me and especially to our Mother and Father.
I wanted to share where anyone can send the donations to for Gary’s memorial scholarship to: Contributions can be made out to A.B. Miller High School, and in the memo section, please write Gary Kirby Memorial Scholarship. It can be mailed to my attention at the address below.
Dr. Barbara Kelley, Ed.D.
Principal
A.B. Miller High School
6821 Oleander Avenue
Fontana, CA 92336
(909) 357-5800 ext. 10117
Thank you, Thom. And thanks for the information for Gary’s memorial scholarship — a terrific way for any of us to honor the life’s work of a good man who we all will greatly miss.
Oh Gahrie! This makes me so sad. I always looked for his comments and his point of view. What a loss.
Thank you Thom.
To Paddy O and Howard I’m throwing out an invitation to gather in Gahrie’s name in the next few weeks. Any other althousians who are in the Inland Empire are welcome to join. Maybe we can break bread, have a laugh and remember Gahrie/Gary. I’m a San Berdoo native son preparing to flee the Golden State. But it’d be nice to put faces to the handles we use here. Kirbside is welcome too of course. Any SoCal althousians who might want to meet up please chime in.
I appreciated his thoughts, and enjoyed the way he put them. I'm truly sorry to see this.
Thanks, Thom. I'm especially touched to see that you and your father and mother were comforted to see so much love for Gahrie here.
If you want to read more of Gahrie's comments, click here.
There are over 2,000. You can see why readers valued Gahrie so much as a member of this community.
I enjoyed the walk down memory lane of reading some of Gahrie's old comments...he had a pithy droll sense of humor when a post topic opened the door to it...an enviable combination. 58 is so young...makes my heart all the more heavy about his passing.
farmgirl, I loved the poetry of your phrasing.
Grace, mercy and peace to Gahrie and family. He always added something good to every discussion. I look forward to meeting him in heaven.
Good Morning everyone. Last Monday his school gave out 2 scholarships in his name. My wife and daughter attended the event. I am still grieving too much to attend. Perhaps I failed my brother by not going but I know I would not be able to contain my emotions. I am crying now as I type this. I do not know how much was raised, doesnt matter, but I do know they had enough to divide it into two scholarships rather then just one. If you have the means and desire I plan to give a little each year to keep this Scholarship going - the Address for the school is a few comments above. Thank you for anyone who did give. I would also like to take this moment to remind all of you to update your wills, Trusts and beneficiaries for all your accounts. My brother died without all of those and I am currently wading thru Probate for an intestate estate. Not a lot of fun. I could get a lawyer but I am doing it alone as I am not giving a lawyer $20,000 statutory fees for an uncontested probate. Currently at the inventory and appraisal stage. Thank you all for your kind words about my brother. If you wish you can correspond with me at Tfkirby@gmail.com
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