Freedom Reborn

My friends, it is my heart-breaking duty to inform you that we have lost another of our number, and another of the very best of us.  Our dear friend, Daglob, passed away this morning.  He finally lost his long battle with his cancer, one that he had been fighting heroically for years.  That struggle, and more importantly, the heroic endurance, perseverance, and simple good humor with which he faced it has been an inspiration to our entire community.  And Daglob himself has been a constant friend to many of us and a champion of the community itself.  He was always willing to help, always jumping in to provide a skin or mesh for someone in need, and with a wonderful love of the obscure and the forgotten that celebrated the strange and unusual in our favorite mediums.  He was also a tremendous help to me in my own projects, both in terms of being a walking library of FF resources, and in terms of creating materials himself, and my Pulp Adventures mod in particular owes its existence to both his work and his interests.  But more importantly, he was a good man, and he enriched the lives of everyone who was a member here, whether they knew it or not.  He enriched our lives in his generosity with his time and his talents, and he enriched them with his steady presence and unflappable nature.  I have been privileged to call him my friend, and I shall miss him terribly, but almost everyone who passed through this site owes him thanks and remembrance.

Once upon a time, our scattered, diminished community came together to send our dear friend a message of encouragement.  Many of us signed this piece below, and we sent it to Daglob.  His struggle is over now, and according to his belief and mine, he has gone to a place where there is no more pain and no more sorrow.  May he be welcomed as his good heart deserves.


This piece has new meaning for me now.  The smiles on the faces of some of Daglob's favorite characters seem to be to be welcoming him home.  That seems fitting.

FR has lost it's history and heart with this news. DG - or Bill as some knew him - was...I...<shakes head>...I can't...this is just such a hit....can't put words to how much he meant to FR and all of us...

...enjoy the pulps and older comics in the sky, old friend...

I'm still in shock on this so I don't know that I have it in me to express this properly, but he will be missed greatly. On the one hand, I'm glad his pain is finally over, but on the other I'm sad I didn't have a chance to tell him what he meant to the community. Dude was a walking encyclopedia of mesh and skin knowledge, not to mention obscure comic and tv lore.

I'll miss you daglob

Terrible news,indeed. He will be missed.

Always before, the Spring returned.
The bright world in its cycle spun
In the air and flowers, frass and fern,
Assured and cradled by the sun.

Always before, you could explain
The turning darkness of the earth,
And how that dark embraced the rain,
And gave the ferns and flowers birth.

Already I forget those things,
And how a vein of gold survives
The mining of a thousand springs,
The season of a thousand lives.

Now winter is my memory,
Now autumn, now summer light -
So every spring from now will be
Another season into the night.

This is very sad. Like Cyber, Daglob was a constant presence on the forums, always willing to help where he could and trying to preserve as much of the community as was possible.

I think being part of this community brought him joy, and I know he did for us.

Like others have said, I'm in shock and he will be deeply missed.

Randomdays

I'm at a loss for words.

I'm gonna miss you, Glob. You were an amazing guy and I hope your family is doing ok.

Saddening news. Goodbye Dag.

I recall back in 2014 Alex's website began updating again for the first time in awhile, and started hosting DaGlob's creations, which is when I first became aware of him. Bill's tastes often aligned with my own (i.e Universal Monsters, Doctor Who, old toys, obscure golden age oddities, etc...) and because of this I really got back into the game. When I finally decided to join the forums ~3 years ago, I quickly found out he was the most inviting and helpful member of the community. I wish I could've known him better.

Godspeed, Bill "DaGlob" Jackson.

Another great hero of this community have passed away, as for our dear friend Cyber Burn his help was unvaluable for some of us, i will repeat myself but sometimes in your life little things like this community could help survive, call it a sense of family maybe... a little warm, but help. People like Daglob make this happen (with all the pain) spending their time to read and comunicate, to help , i thank you my friend wherever you are, thank you.

I'm very sorry to hear about Daglob. Following along with his troubles in his thread I was worried we might have to say goodbye one day. He was a big part of this community and he'll be missed.
I was always really impressed that he kept running the themed skinning challenges.

So sad to hear about this, my condolences to his family and friends.  Another one of the best of us in our little corner of the universe has left us for the journey beyond this earth.  This day today is a hard one for us all. It is so much easier to mourn in silence, but silence or not, one thing which I am sure we all appreciate today, is being able to share in each other's moments or thoughts of Daglob. Many will have their own stories or special memories, of the mark he left in this forum and in their lives.  He will live on through our thoughts of him and we must continue to focus on the incredible contributions Daglob brought us, rather than the fact that he is no longer here with us today as we know it. I am certain of two things though.  We are all here because somewhere somehow, we have all been touched by Daglob and that the universe sadly became a little dimmer today.  We were all very lucky to have had him as part of this forum and as much as he will be missed by us all, he will remain with us all, as long as we can remember. We will miss you Daglob, past, present and future.  Rest in Peace.

I cannot express how deeply I feel this loss. His art and encouragement have saved all of us a long search at times. He was instrumental in my trying to preserve content in the museum. I will finish that task as an homage to one of the greatest people I have known. My heart is heavy indeed.

I knew it was coming. I just lost three in a month to the Big C, next door neighbor was yesterday. This sucks. There ain't much to say that isn't known.

Daglob was dedicated to this community. He was dedicated to people period. Children included. He made requests for me to things for the kids in his family and I can say it was the proudest I was doing anything here. He checked on me frequently and kept my email current especially back when I was having surgeries often. Always inquired about my stepfather and mom too, they both have the condition, stepdad is terminal currently. Else endless projects done with this one, he had shared loves for the same obscure comics I do though in his case the projects here don't come close to the heart on that guy.

I hope you find yourself in the best place surrounded by love and kindness Bill. Cheers.

Oh god this is terrible news to wake upto, I don't know what to say really. I loved his style, who he was and everything he did. He's helped me out endlessly and because of him my knowledge on the classics is much broader now ( he was forever doing a new character that I'd then have to google and I'd told him this more than once which I'm sure he liked) I will miss him terribly and I'm sure him and cyber are even now teaming up in a much better place.
I love you bill and thank you.

Oh no.  This has been a rough year and a half. Daglob was such an integral member of the community. He'll truly be missed.

Jeez. (http://www.stumpyanker.com/emoticons/bye2.gif)

Greener pastures, daglob.

Sad news indeed, he will be missed.

I sad to hear this. I just returned to the community after nearly a decade away and Daglob was one of the first and most welcoming.

Thanks for the life you brought to this little community, Daglob. The place won't be the same without you.

Damn.

Truly one of the best among us.

Damn.

I'm so sorry to hear this news...  He was a very important part of the community.

He'll be missed.

As prolific as he was talented, and always willing to help. Rest in peace, Daglob.

Hello my friends, Daglob/Bill's daughter wrote to me recently and offered to share his obituary with us.  It's a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man, so I promised to pass it along:

https://hughesfuneralhome.org/tribute/william-bill-jackson/?fbclid=IwAR2YuTX3_l9x53SmBVyV9UhuFVB8H04j6S8uXYkifRW5T-M5phOds_6hrdU

I also want to share part of her note to me.  The love of our community for Bill has been a comfort to his family, and that's a good thing:

QuoteI have read some of the comments at FR. They make me cry, but they also do my broken heart good to read. When he was in the hospital he had me checking some of the posts and reading them to him, and I still had the forum tab open on my tablet. I saved the comments, and one day I hope that they will bring me more smiles than tears.

He truly loved y'all. He was the first, and remained one of the only, people to understand my having real and important friendships with people I only knew online, because he had them too, with y'all.

That's about the sweetest thing I ever heard.

This is awful, I feel so bad for his family, condolences to those here who knew him well and to his family.

Dana

Daglob/Bill was always here...I just expected he was always going to be here...I know that's dumb. :(

Dana

I didn't know DaGlob well, but he made such an impact on me. I joined this forum when I was in my mid teens. DaGlob was one of the first names I remember seeing repeatedly, and how open and open, kind, and responsive he was to everyone who called this place home.  And I can genuinely say that over the  course of last 13 years of my calling this place home, regardless of what was happening in the community(and even in his own real world life), he continued to be that ambassador for every one he interacted with here.

We mainly only ever interacted through comments through the thread, but over the years he helped me find skins/meshes(frequently taking the time to send them to me directly) numerous times, took lots of my requests and made them, and even made a skin based on a hero-machine design I once posted (in I think the fan art thread) just because he was inspired to do so. He always welcomed feedback ( both creatively and mechanically), and took the communities suggestions and ran with them when it came to content.

And he did all this with such dedication, that without a doubt,  you knew when you came around, he would be here(kind of like Coach from Cheers, and both of their passing seem to leave a similar hole in their respective communities). And yes, I was aware of his fight, and how relentless it had been over the years. But like Dana/cmdrkoenig67, some part of me always thought he'd be here. My heart is heavy, knowing that he has gone, but it is grateful knowing his pain is no more.

He was, is, and always will be, one of the great corner stones of this community. A shining example of not just a good forum member, but a good person.

Thank you DaGlob, from a kid who was looking for a place to fit in.

That's a really wonderful note from his daughter too, thank you for sharing it, BG.

Rest in Peace, Bill/DaGlob

Dana

Well said, DD.

Bill's daughter sent me a message to let me know that they will be having the services for him today at 2 PM CST.  They'll be livestreamed because of Covid, so if anyone wants to "attend", we have that option, which is really nice of her to share with us.

https://www.facebook.com/UnityOfMobile/

Thanks for the heads-up, BG.  The opening song choice is already gettin' me.  :(

What a beautiful service ❤️ I'm so grateful his daughter shared that with us

Just reading this and, Oof...terrible news.  :(
Daglob was one of the most active user in the forum.  Personally i didnt knew him, but i exchanged some messages with him here and there. He was a fan of skinning and different types of skins. Great guy, he will be missed ! Respects !!!

Whoa I've been out of the loop completely on this . DG was one of the nicest people I've met in the ff-fandom. Always willing to help you out with a mesh or skin . And doing amazing work of his own . Shocked to hear this.

Seeing and reading this was all hard to take in.  I'm at a loss for words.  I just wish I had better words to say other than you will be missed Daglob.

Condolences to his family and everyone who knew him.

He was a good man indeed. He was the among the very first people that helped me out when I first joined this community. Back then, I often had a lot of requests and sometimes I would ask them from him via PM. He was always friendly and ready to help when he was able to.

I also admired his enthusiasm and dedication in making cool stuff for the game. Sometimes it could be something simple, silly, or funny. Other times it would be cool and awesome. I could tell he just simply loved and enjoyed what he was doing. And I think he wanted to share that same joy and enthusiasm to everyone.

Rest In Peace Daglob. You shall be missed.

Ok, I've put this off for long enough.

I never thought I would miss someone this much that I never met.  Bill could almost always find a way to relate to someone on some subject or other.  Knowing him was, dare I say it, an enriching experience.  I don't know if I'll ever say that about anyone ever again (cuz I'm a grump).

Daglob may not have been in the first or second wave of board members like some of us still hanging around, having finally signed up almost a year after the board was started, but he put so much of himself into the place that you'd think he was a founder.  There's been a lot of well-deserved praise handed out to him as one of the best of us, but I'll up that and say that he was absolutely the best of us.  He was the example we should all strive to emulate.  He was always willing to try his hand at just about every aspect of the game, contributing content heartily (limited only by the tech he had at hand), and always more than happy to help someone out with not just the content he had hoarded (by his own admission), but also his extensive knowledge of classic and pulp characters, as well as a sounding board for ideas.  He resurrected the artistic challenges after a six year absence and regularly checked all of those Yahoo Groups & Wayback Machine links not because someone asked him to, but because he felt it was needed (and they both sorely were).  And even after all of the arguments going on around the boards and all of his challenges with cancer (and hurricanes!), I can't think of a single negative post from him.

I don't think he'll be remembered in any other way than the good person he was.  I know I'll still miss Bill whenever I think of him (and with so many topics he was attached to, it will probably be frequent), but the thought that wherever he is now he's probably doing much better than he had in a while will lighten that mood a bit.

Rest In Peace, Bill.  You deserve it.

*wipes a tear*

Thank you PG for putting into words what I couldn't bring myself to write.

Very well said, PG.  I think your point about the genuinely good and positive nature of his interactions here on FR is particularly apt.  He will indeed be remembered in that light.

You were not only a constant but a pillar of this community. I don't think FR would've been able to keep as many new members as it could without your helpfulness and kindness. Nor without the amount of content you've created throughout the years.

I have drifted away from FR over the years but I want to say I'm sorry for everyone's loss here. A community 20+ years old, I can only imagine how much this hurts.

Farewell Daglob and thanks for keeping this place together.

Wow... after not having been here for a while, this is utterly shocking and incredibly heartbreaking news. Glob was an absolute pillar of this community and just a great guy. Always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. He will absolutely be missed and I offer my sincerest condolences to his loved ones.

I read this a little while ago and... devastating. I didn't know what to say.
As everybody has mentioned, Glob was an absolute treasure. Other people already have said it better, but damn.
I was absolutely enamored from day one of the characters he'd chosen to bring to life. And then all his community projects. This is the kind of person you call "the glue." A true glue person.
Rest well.

Wow I been away for awhile for my own health issues this is not how I wanted to come back and find out you will be missed as much as you helped me when I was around all those years ago
I hope you rest in peace and I don't know if you can skin in heaven but you you can I'm sure you would

I somehow missed this news last year. I don't read the site much any more.
Bill was one of the best people I've interacted with online in the last 20 years, and their presence will be missed.
Always friendly and helpful, generous and talented.

I said some time ago Daglob was one of our "unsung heroes". He was nice, funny and friendly. He was always ready to help any fellow member, locating a "lost" skin or even doing a brand new character for a fellow he barely knew.
I loved all our collaborations and the way he would always surprise me with his suggestions about who we should do next. He would never make the obvious choice and always choose something new and unexpected.
I can't even choose the right words, to be honest, he was great man, a fun friend and, like some of the earlier posters said, the very best of us. He helped to make this place alive in more ways we can realize and I'm sure we'll all miss him. I know I do.

This news has just gotten to me since I was away from this Forum for some time.

As this is Fresh to me I'm hurt.
This is a late Imput but I got to say something.

He was such a generous person with such a good Soul.
Like many of you he would be quick to help and lend his Talents.

He will be missed.He and I spoke on many occasions and I do remember when he first became sick.
We shared a few prvate messages about that at the time.

We are an odd bunch to many I'm sure.... but unless your one of us you just wouldnt understand.
We feed into each other childhood Dreams...and we help assist in making them come true.

Just comming back and finding this out...
I feel bad not having spoken to him for so long.
You just never know....so....

Let me say Life is Precious and I Appreciate all of you.
🙏🙏🙏🙏Prayers and Blessings to us all.🙏🙏🙏🙏

Rest my Brother
And Thank you
DG🙏

I heard about his passing when I logged back on recently, and it broke my heart as well, he was a great mesher and a really pleasant person.

Just saw this and I am greatly saddened by it, but also feel lucky to have known him. He will be very missed.