Wednesday, April 04, 2007

JOHN STONE, 62

The creator of Curbstone Critic died Tuesday afternoon. He was a photographer, a pilot, an educator, an oddball, an iconoclast.

Tony Messenger has the update from this story about Stone's death.

Last year we wrote a magazine piece about local bloggers; here's the lede:
FORTIFIED BY a pull on his cigarette and a swallow of his beer, John Stone surveys his companions for the evening -- a dozen men and women, most of them in the full vigor of their 30s and thus a generation younger than Stone, a retired biologist and geneticist. He is 62 and sometimes grumbles about being the "grandpa of the group." But only sometimes; he has come to look forward to the first and third Tuesdays of each month and this gathering of unlikely futurists at the Patton Alley Pub in downtown Springfield.

Stone is the author of the Curbstone Critic and a member in good standing of the Springfield Bloggers; a steady face at the group's meetings, he also documents the sitdowns through the lens of his Canon EOS-30 ...
We'll miss the sumbitch, though it sounds like he died doing what he enjoyed. And dammit, now he knows what happens next. Stoner, if you get the chance, give us the lowdown.

Updated @ 1:30 p.m.
From other bloggers:

Snarling Marmot describes Stone as "just too damn smart for his own good." Amen, sister.

•Andy at Rhetorica (and leader of the local bloggers meetings) is "deeply saddened by the death of a man I counted among my friends."

•Larry at Simple Thoughts notes: "I believe he would love the fact that we are all talking about him."

•The bad-ass known as Strannix @ Welcome to the Revolution offers this: "He was a frequent visitor here at WttR, and one of the first to add me to his blogroll. So, though I never even met the man, it is not too much to say that he was an early godfather to this blog, and he will be missed."

•Over at Life in the Garden, there is this: "We didn’t always agree with his viewpoint, but it made for interesting reading."

Zach, who is still here, says "I don’t know where ol’ Stone is right now but I hope he is happy." And drinking a beer.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any one know about funeral arrangements yet?

Anonymous said...

So who wins the point on this in the Great Game of Death?

Anonymous said...

Though anonymous I may be, I am truly sorry to read that we've lost a friend today.
How strange to remember the rants we silently throw at one another here do come from real flesh and blood people. A big non-sarcastic virtual hug to you all.

Ron Davis said...

Anon 410: Tony Messenger gets the point.

Desdinova said...

I just read this when I got to work. John wasn't crazy about the company I work for (I think the e-mail he sent Andy Cline that time proved that), but he liked us better than our competitor.

He was one of my first big supporters. I remember the night I managed to get to a bloggers meeting. John walked up and asked who I was. When I told him he yelled across the room "Hey everybody! This guy is Desdinova! (I wasn't wearing my mask and cape that night)"

I will miss you Mr. Stone. I will take up your fight against you-know-who. I never got the chance to tell him I'm know being harrased by that crazy Jackie woman.

Anonymous said...

John Stone was not just a pilot, he was a Fighter Pilot, having flown the F-4 Phantom for good old Uncle Sam and of course, God.

Related to his biology expertise, he was a big fan of and expert on Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. It's an aquatic salamander which around these parts, we call Hellbender. Fitting don't you think.

Desdinova said...

I wonder if we could collect among the blogdom all the tributes to the Curbstone Critic. I think it would be kewel (sas he would say).

Lorax said...

+1 John Stone. Well done. F-4s and Hellbenders... well how about that?!?