In Memoriam

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Availle
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Post by Availle »

In the years that LibriVox has been active, we have seen many readers come and go - and some of them, unfortunately, are gone forever. Here, we honour them with the gems they produced for our catalogue.

If you do know of LibriVoxers who have passed away, please let us know (here in the forums or by sending an email to info @ librivox.org), so we can add them to this list.

The LibriVox legacy of Israel Radvinski (1948 - 2007) consists of only one work. The one single book he read for Librivox was the Bible - Genesis - in Hebrew.

One of our oldest readers ever was Dorothy Lieder (1915 - 2008). She was already 92 when she read one story of The Burgess Bird Book For Children, as a collaborative with her son.

Sadly, we know very little of our reader bryfee (1949 - 2008), not even his name, but he did take part in our second version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Chris icyjumbo (1964 - 2010) died way too young from an aggressive form of oesophageal cancer. His legacy contains The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, read as a duet.

An early LibriVox member and admin was Alan Davis Drake (1945 - 2010), who specialised in poetry. He read a number of poetry books solo, among them are the Selected Early Poems of William Carlos Williams.

Good and evil are never far apart in the books by Charles Dickens. Cynthia Lyons (1946 - 2011) should know since she took the time to read two, and one of them is the epic Bleak House.

Probably lots of fun in reading had Gregg Margarite (1957 - 2012). The Sci-fi buff read many pulp magazine stories from the 60s. A rather unusual one is The Runaway Skyscraper by Murray Leinster.

Our late reader John E. Farell (1961 - 2014) had a love for poetry. Although he didn't do a solo recording, he read five poems in Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil.

Australian Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014) loved children's books. Even though she had part of her jawbone removed due to cancer, she read seven books by Arthur Scott Bailey, among them The Tale of Grandfather Mole

One of our earliest readers, Denny Sayers (d. 2015), must have been a fan of Daniel Defoe, after all, he read six books of this author. Among them is the swashbuckler The Life, Adventures & Piracies of Captain Singleton.

A beloved grandfather was Lars Rolander (1942 - 2016) from Sweden. He was on a mission to bring the books of Selma Lagerlöf to life and to a wider audience. A bit out there is her short ghost story Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness.

A very dry form of humour and wit was the style of Andy Minter (1934 - 2017). His rendition of Stevenson's The Wrong Box perfectly shows his personality.

When you look up mim@can (1949 - 2017) in our catalogue, you will find only a single section in The Scottish Chiefs. However, this is only a tiny part of her LibriVox story, since she was a DPL for more than 250 of our books.

Ray Kasper (1938 - 2017) loved being dramatic - out of his 17 projects, 8 were roles in LibriVox plays. His final performance was Pew for Treasure Island: A play in 4 acts.

Drama lover and "AmateurOzmologist", Miriam Esther Goldman (1991 - 2017) especially enjoyed the books by Frank L. Baum. She was involved in four of his books, one of them was the dramatic reading of Ozma of Oz, where she narrated and played some minor characters.

Vermont native Matt Wills (1949 - 2017) was very enthusiastic about recording. Sadly, he could only read two sections before he passed away after a battle with lung cancer. His voice is eternalized in Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll.

Despite being worried about his hoarseness caused by a VNS, Matthew Henkin (1993 - 2018) plunged into LibriVox with great enthusiasm. His sojourn here was very short, but among his legacy is The Rabbi's Bogey-Man for children, recorded especially with his nephews and nieces in mind.

A renowned scholar and expert of Chinese history in real life, on LibriVox Nicholas Clifford (1930 - 2019) indulged in his love for the writing of Henry James. A total of 24 of James' books were read by him, the very last one was The Aspern Papers.

Old Testament lecturer Tim Bulkeley (1948 - 2019) got around: He taught in Africa, New Zealand, Asia... On LV, he greatly enjoyed recording the works of Rudyard Kipling. He read 6 books by the Nobel Prize Winner, among them one that fits his own life closely: Letters of Travel.

Dramatic works aficionado Beth Thomas (1974 - 2020) recorded parts in over 300 projects, as well as coordinating more than 70. While some of her recordings will finish posthumously, the last project she saw catalogued before her death is Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

Kristin Hughes (1974 - 2021) discovered LibriVox already in 2006 and was one of our earliest admins. She contributed to numerous projects, but poetry held a special place in her heart. As a soloist, she read two collections of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Our reader Peter Thomlinson (1940 - 2022) had a heart for poetry and frequently contributed to our various collections, be it poetry, short stories, or short nonfiction. He also enjoyed the books by Andy Adams, but with Gustav Kobbe's The Love of Great Composers, he went back to his roots as a retired musician.

Chicago-born Tom Hirsch (1947 - 2022) had an exciting life with many occupations that brought him to different parts of the US. On LibriVox he focused on books for teen boys, and given that once upon a time he held a pilot's licence, his favourite book was probably The Airship Boys in the Great War.

Richard Kilmer's (1942 - 2022) taste in books was rather eclectic and ranged from mysteries and westerns to sci-fi and even serious books. When he joined LibriVox in 2009, he probably didn't plan to read almost 3000 sections in total and 75 solos. It all started out with his first solo, the western The Night Horseman by Max Brand.

LibriVox wouldn't be what it is today without the enormous contributions of Kara Shallenberg (1969 - 2023), founding member, long-term admin, and reader of 46 solos. Although forced to scale back due to chronic illness, she could contribute her favourite book, The Great Gatsby, just when it became pd for LibriVox.
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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AvailleAudio.com
Availle
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Post by Availle »

This is a continuation of the Staff Picks Post for our 12th anniversary. We will add other volunteers when we hear of their passing.

Feel free to post your thoughts about our late LibriVox members in this thread.
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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AvailleAudio.com
Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

I especially loved Andy Minter's dramatic work! He was fantastic in Pride and Prejudice (Mr Bennet), in Hard Times (Mr Bounderby) and in the Secret Garden as Ben Weatherstaff! His voice was so distinctive and his characterisations were natural-sounding, but also hilarious!

Denny Sayers to me is always the voice of Friar Laurence, from Romeo and Juliet. I particularly remember that he volunteered to read in one of my DR projects (and would have been perfect for it) but sadly passed away too soon.

I didn't realize that Lucy Burgoyne had passed away also! She was one of the first Australian voices I remember hearing on LV!
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Miriam Esther Goldman (AmateurOzmologist) passed away sometime in the past week. Her Facebook profile appears to be public, and people are posting condolences: https://www.facebook.com/LuckyNumber78

She had been quite active once with the Oz series of books. Her participation dropped off, and she hadn't been active for a while.

Her reader page is here: https://librivox.org/reader/3994
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
VfkaBT
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Post by VfkaBT »

Oh my God. Miriam? This was the teenager heading for college, right? We worked together on a couple of projects, like one of the first Astounding Stories projects. Looks like she made it to Hollywood since she has an IMDB page. Always wondered what happened to her; she seemed destined for something better. Very sad news.
My previous LV work: Bellona Times
chocoholic
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Post by chocoholic »

I'm very sorry to hear that. I can't access the Facebook page, so it may not be public after all. I can access a different Miriam Esther Goldman page on Facebook and I don't see any condolences there, so do we know for sure?
Laurie Anne
kayray
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Post by kayray »

Oh no :(
Kara
http://kayray.org/
--------
"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)
VfkaBT
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Post by VfkaBT »

One of her friends posted this memorial to her:
https://medium.com/@TheScarlettAce/in-m ... efbf029cf1
My previous LV work: Bellona Times
kayray
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Post by kayray »

Such an unbearable tragedy. Depression kills.
Kara
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--------
"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)
libraryanne
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Post by libraryanne »

Due to my own health issues I haven't kept up on things Librivox for some time, and I'm saddened by seeing all the names of those who have passed away. Some I knew had left us but a few of the other names I hadn't expected to see. Life is precious and too short for many people.
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Sadly, we need to add one more name to the list above. It's Matityahu, real name Matthew Henkin, who passed away at only 25 years of age.

Thanks to his big brother Jonathan for letting us know!
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Oh, how sad! Here's his reader page: https://librivox.org/reader/12672
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
JayKitty76
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Post by JayKitty76 »

I'm so sorry to hear this...my thoughts and prayers are with Matityahu's family and friends.
He did an excellent job on Tom Sawyer, and I am grateful that his voice will be heard on the two chapters he recorded on my project...
My deepest condolences are with his family and friends.
~ 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜 ~
niobium
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Post by niobium »

How did it become known when someone who contributed to these projects may have passed away? Over the years, I have seen messages from family members or treating doctors posted on facebook about people who have unfortunately never had a chance to say goodbye, but I assumed when an account goes silent, then its as good locked out forever. Personally, I have had the rude shock of finding out someone has died thanks to atrocious poor communications skills on social media. Me and an old friend lost touch for years, but came out of isolation when I noticed he was on the internet. After a while, when he stopped replying to messages, I assumed he had just tuned out or bought a new computer. After literally a year late, I found out he had died when his facebook profile was archived as a memorial. Linkedin dosnt seem to bother with things like this either. One would assume, if they were a contact, then some kind of message would be automated. The experience made be wonder if anyone would come looking for me if I ever disappeared.
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Post by annise »

I've asked my daughter to let LV know, I'd hate to think if I were still active then that people had to worry about when to take over anything I was working on to finish it.
Some families do tell us, sometimes we find out from our members, probably most times we don't find out. I realise this is a typical LV answer - it just depends :hmm:

Anne
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