Passing on the following email.

====
It is with great sadness to report to you that my son Robert (32 years)(Octobloke) died in Southampton general hospital on 15 May after prolonged treatment of 11 weeks. He had corrective heart surgery on the 26 February after a long period of slow deterioration. The surgery, which should have taken 6 hours ended up as 15 hours in which the surgeon nearly lost him 3 times. There followed a period of 11 weeks in cardiac intensive care during which time his partner Donna never left his bedside. He loved your site and discussed it with me every week and thought your support for his previous visit to hospital was marvellous. best wishes to all

Bob Williams
====

I'm sure he's following this thread from a better place. God bless, Octobloke.

Here's a link to one of Octobloke's many contributions to the TONMO.com community.

Oh man...am at something of a loss for words right now...


greg

Very sorry to hear about this tragic news, words really are inadequate. Thinking of you of both, Bob and Donna.

Very sorry to hear this sad news.

Nancy

I'd like to modestly dedicate our first convention to Octobloke, who was publicly and privately a staunch supporter of TONMO.com, and a good friend to us all (whether or not all of us know that!). There will be no events or agenda relating to this dedication, but just wanted to mention that this is the way I'll be thinking about the convention.

So very, very young. My sympathies go to all who ever loved him and will miss him. We'll miss him.

In looking through some old emails, it certainly is appropriate to dedicate our convention to Robert. Here is an email from September 8th, 2003:

======
Tony,
Any idea (roughly) when the Octopus (TONMO)convention will be? As I've got to go into hospital soon(-ish) and I will need to be fit in order to get travel insurance. On a seperate note going to Newquay on Wednesday to sponsor Titan and company, if work will permit. They're asking for 35 words describing TONMO.com to be put on the sign. What do you want to say on it? Thought I should ask seeing as it's your website.
Cheers,

Rob Williams (a.k.a Octobloke)
======

Sharing further correspondence re: Robert:

===

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your e-mail. It is shattering news for all his friends and especially, family and partner Donna.

Rob greatly enthused about TONMO and I knew it meant a great deal to him. Rob was always interested in the natural world, but in the last few years he had a fascination with Octopi and as you know, his alter-ego and polyester Octopus, Asterisk, never left his side.

Rob dearly wanted to attend the convention, but I'm glad he had positive input via your site, which I think is fantastic.

You are more than welcome to use any images that I've created for the purposes you describe. They were only rough sketches to be honest, but people seem to like them.

It would be good to keep in touch, as a way of celebrating Rob's interest in TONMO.

Kind regards,

Robin.






>From: "Tony Morelli" <tonmo@comcast.net>
>To: <rooster_rob@hotmail.com>
>CC: "'Erich Orser'" <beakbite1@yahoo.com>,<ewaldbros@hotmail.com>
>Subject: FW: Only me
>Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 10:24:56 -0400
>
>Robin:
>
>I understand our mutual friend Robert Williams passed away on May 15. The
>TONMO.com community is very sad to hear of this loss.
>
>In August, the TONMO.com community is holding its first convention in
>Monterey, CA. We'd like to modestly dedicate the event to Rob Williams.
>
>In doing so, we'd like to display your art, that he brought our way via the
>email below, and still exists in our Image Gallery. I'm writing to seek
>permission to display your artwork in Rob's memory.
>
>Best regards,
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Tony Morelli
>Founder, Webmaster
>TONMO.com: http://www.tonmo.com <http://www.tonmo.com/>
>ShrimpStuff.com: http://www.shrimpstuff.com <http://www.shrimpstuff.com/>
>CephStuff.com: http://www.cephstuff.com <http://www.cephstuff.com/>
>e: email@tonmo.com
>----------------------------------------------------
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Robert Williams [mailto:robbiewilliams@eurobell.co.uk]
>Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 11:59 AM
>To: email@tonmo.com
>Subject: Only me
>
>
>Dear Tony,
> A good friend of mine did these 2 pictures of my stuffed
>octopus for my website. Would you like to use them for your art page?
> The first one depicts Asterisk (provisional name) enjoying a nice pint of
>Guinness, he developed the taste from his visit to Dublin. The second one
>is basically his 'seal of approval' for any activity he enjoys. I told my
>friend Robin, who created the images, that you discourage images being used
>without permission so he's happy.
> As I think I said to you before it will just be a sort of web magazine
>featuring activities and things to do, pictures and so on. With the Octopus
>acting as a mascot. So hopefully this should up and running soon.
>Best wishes and keep up the good work,
>
>Rob Williams
>
>Image courtesy of Robin Davies
>
><< OctoGuiness.png >>
><< OctoThumbs.png >>

it is really a bummer that he won't be there to share with all of us...it is good news, though, that we will be able to see some of his contributions...

greg

I'm really sorry to hear this news. My sympathies are with Octoblokes family.

Great Idea to dedicate Tonmocon to him!

Jean

Prayers for Robert and his family. I think that is a wonderful idea to dedicate Tonmocon in his memory.

My condolences to Robert's family and friends. We'll miss you.

Parents should not out live their children. My heartfelt condolonces on your loss.

Message from Octobird (Octobloke's financee)

Thank you everyone who has contributed the above memories about Octobloke on the site. He would be very proud of everything that everyone has said about him. He would be especially honoured that the Octopus Convention will be in memory of him and everything that he has contributed to on the site over the years in which he has been a member, his memory will live on, and I hope that I will continue to be a active member as was Octobloke (Rob).

Once again, thank you everyone - Octobird (aka Donna Maunder)

Donna, we are happy to have you here...and we certainly miss Robert, he had nothing but positive impact , a real inspiration.

greg

Donna,

I can only reiterate Greg' sentiment above. I sent Robert a card last year with a good-luck belemnite inside and a whole list of best wishes from us. It was great when he posted here to say he had enjoyed it!

All the best, and hope to see you here soon.

Phil

It's clear from both your post and the letter from Rob's father that you really were there for him, and that you still hold him in your heart. I hope you will help us remember his enthusiasm at the convention and in the TONMO community, and that we can in some small way help you honor his memory. :welcome:

- M

Phil,

I can remember the card(s) that were sent to Rob (Octobloke) last year from all at TONMO, we made sure that when Rob went into Hospital this time round, the cards were packed.

Rob spent quite a lot of time before his operation in February looking at/and reading the cards. I made sure that they were displayed in his room in Hospital where he could see them easily, he enjoyed reading them, and it made him very happy to think that people were thinking about him at that difficult time.

:smile:

Asterisk*

Is it in the image galley? I wonder how it looks like?

I have one too..and my alt-ego always interact with his (my toy's) character:))

Regards

SkyDancer

P.S Sad to hear of a fellow Octo fan's passing:(((

Since I'm not too good with words, all I have to say is that I'm sure he's in a a much better place now.

Since I'm not too good with words, all I have to say is that I'm sure he's in a a much better place now.


Very well said Eric.

I too share my condolences with his family and friends. May he always be with us in spirit.

John

they might even have internet access there, then he could watch this thread for replies

they might even have internet access there, then he could watch this thread for replies
:smile: I like to think we have no such earthly bounds when we die. Surely access to content must be better after life than during! :wink: To your point, I personally believe the sentiments expressed here persist and are not in vain.