Updates

A brief comment regarding updates on those J-landers who have passed away. 

In some instances, news reaches us within hours, or days. In some instances not for months. And in some instances not for many years. That is the nature of life on-line, where a Keyboard may fall Silent, without immediately being noticed. On Facebook, I tend to check birthday notifications, as many of someone's FB friends just blindly follow the prompts, without being aware of, or (worse) remembering the death of the user. 

I update this blog from the Silent Keyboards group on Facebook, and am sometimes months behind. My apologies. 

Any tributes welcome.  

 

Connie Higginbotham

 I have just received confirmation that Connie passed away earlier this year, 2025. Further details are awaited. 

Bob Hall

Bob Hall has passed away on 4th June 2024 of biliary duct cancer. He is survived by his wife Bonnie. I point to the obituary from the funeral home (https://www.gundersonfh.com/obituaries/Robert-A-Hall...) and to his final post, published by Bonnie after he had died. https://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2024/07/im-dead.html. Personally, I did not know Bob in J-land, but may he rest in peace.

Pat McCormick-Neil

I was informed by Kathy Zolla that former J-lander Pat McCormick-Neal passed away on 13th June 2025. Apparently, she would blog about books and movie stars. Further information as I receive it. May she rest in peace.

May Moore and Terry Townsend

Bethe Caoutte has advised us the passing of J-lander May Moore of Plant City near Tampa Florida. This probably happened about a decade ago, when her Facebook profile was closed.

Terry Townsend (and her husband) lived in the Clearwater area, west of Tampa.
This couple was apparently already in their mid 80's 15 years ago.

Bethe told me that she once stayed in Terry's house at Zephyrhills, not far from Tampa, one day.

Ora Louise Bowling Carmichael

Ora Louise Bowling Carmichael 🤍
May 8, 1938 – March 29, 2025 

Tribute courtesy Robin Murphy Rodrigues
My heart is broken. I’ve known Ora for so many years—our oldest Facebook messages date back to 2010, but our friendship began long before that.

We first met online back in the ’90s, in the early days of the internet, and though we never met in person, she was as real a friend to me as any I’ve ever had.

Ora was a retired Army wife, devoted to her husband, a retired Army chaplain. After retiring they built a life together in Lexington, KY, grounded in family, faith, love, and service to others. She was an encourager, always helping me see the good in life, no matter how hard things got. We shared stories of being military wives, swapped tales about our troublesome knees, and she never failed to keep me and my family in her prayers.

Her love for Jesus was steadfast, and she radiated kindness to everyone she knew. I will miss her flower photos—she had such a gift for capturing beauty, both in nature and in life. And I will miss her—her friendship, her unwavering support, and her gentle wisdom.

Ora loved the song You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson, and how fitting that is. Though she is gone, she will never be forgotten. I know she’ll be there to greet me with a hug when I get to heaven.

Save me a spot, my dear, sweet friend—she will be so deeply missed but forever cherished. 🤍

Linda Smith Shook - Linda's World.

Today, March 16th, 2025, Linda Smith Shook passed away, aged 82, after a lengthy spell of ill health. Only a few weeks ago, she had to transfer to a hospice-style home, after her medical condition no longer responded to treatment.

Linda was one of the old stagers of J-land, blogging from just outside Seattle (Washington State), often sharing images of the Tacoma Narrows Bridges with me - one of which collapsed in 1940 during a spell of strong winds. 

 

When I first joined J-land, Linda had her little cat Gabi, who sadly died 15 years ago. Gabi would have been at the Rainbow Bridge, welcoming Linda. 

 

We shall all miss her, a sadness that is alleviated by the knowledge that her suffering is over, and has rejoined her beloved Bob, who predeceased her by a number of years.

 

Good night, Linda. Thank you for the friendship. Rest in peace.

 

Parts of her old AOL blog remain.

Gary Wood - Old Woody's Boomer

Gary Brent Wood (Old Woody's Boomer) passed away on 3 December 2024 at the age  of 77. I refer to the obituary page for an overview of his life. 

As far as I am aware, he is the 71st J-lander whose Keyboard has now fallen Silent. 

RIP Gary. You will be missed by many

Marla Goodman

 Marla Goodman passed away on 25th May 2024 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. She wrote a blog named "Life" on AOL Journals, until that service was pulled 16 years ago.

Sugar

In March, I started this tribute with these lines.

It is not likely that we will be notified of the passing of Pat Lewis, known to us as Sugar. An email from Sugar was forwarded to one of us, saying she was on hospice and didn't know how long she had on the final journey home. Thank you for the friendship, be blessed, have a good life, were her final words. 

Sugar was a pillar of J-land, its spiritual leader and minister - because Sugar was an ordained minister of the church. She was one of many who welcomed me into J-land, as she did so many others. She was creative, making tags in memory of those gone on ahead for Silent Keyboards.

---

With many thanks to the efforts of Linda Smith Shook in WA, I can now confirm, with reasonable confidence, that Sugar, Patrica Leona Fay Lewis (Cummings) passed away on 6 March 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of 74. The obituary I screenshot is not accessible, because it has been removed - possibly because of certain problems that Sugar encountered during her life.

In common with all in this group, I shall remember Sugar as a pivotal member of our J-land community, right from the start. She was an ordained minister, always looking out for those in need. One of the contributions, relevant to this group, have been the many memorial tags for those that have gone on ahead. I am very sad that latterly, Sugar disappeared from the internet. She transferred to hospice care in January, and passed away in March.