iamrushman
Contributor
I'm so sorry to hear such news.....
TSandM -- Lynne Flaherty
- Thread starter Peter Guy
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Peter, my thoughts are with you.
Like many here, I am in shock over this. She almost always found the time to set a rookie straight in a gentle and respectful way. I cannot count the times I found her input helpful. She was a pillar of this community. I am so very sorry for your loss.
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Peter,
I am so sorry for your loss. Lynne was special to the overwhelming majority of us on this board. We all experienced her kindnesses in our own personalized ways.
For me, it was her private messages and encouragement that helped me transition from a NE wreck rat to someone who is now capable of appreciating the art of diving. I am still on that journey. Secretly, I was hoping to take a GUE course on the west coast someday when I considered myself ready. I know that she would have loved to be part of my conversion.
Lynne never knew this, it was to be a surprise. GUE lost their biggest cheerleader and not-so-subtle evangelist.
A dear friend of mine alerted me to the sad news yesterday evening. Ive been watching and hoping for a positive resolution to all of this and half hoping that it would turn into the best story ever on SB.
It looks like life is not going to offer that to any of us
I am so sorry for your loss. Lynne was special to the overwhelming majority of us on this board. We all experienced her kindnesses in our own personalized ways.
For me, it was her private messages and encouragement that helped me transition from a NE wreck rat to someone who is now capable of appreciating the art of diving. I am still on that journey. Secretly, I was hoping to take a GUE course on the west coast someday when I considered myself ready. I know that she would have loved to be part of my conversion.
Lynne never knew this, it was to be a surprise. GUE lost their biggest cheerleader and not-so-subtle evangelist.
A dear friend of mine alerted me to the sad news yesterday evening. Ive been watching and hoping for a positive resolution to all of this and half hoping that it would turn into the best story ever on SB.
It looks like life is not going to offer that to any of us
Just simply devastating news. Peter was (is) my dive instructor, and Lynne was with us assisting with every class from open water to advanced. I've enjoyed many local dives here in Puget Sound with the two of them, and many diving excursions as well. I learned so much from Lynne. She would never hesitate to give me pointers, advice, encouragement, and when she thought I deserved it, a bit of a kick in the butt. And the most safety conscious diver I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I consider her and Peter my mentors, friends, and the best diving buddies you could wish for. A tragic loss that words cannot express.
David R.
David R.
Peter, my heart breaks for you. Had the pleasure of diving with you both once, and have kept Lynne's wise council of "keep your wing inflated at the surface, even if you're only wading in the water".
Lynne has a beautiful legacy in the world and we are richer for it. Tears, no words left.
Lynne has a beautiful legacy in the world and we are richer for it. Tears, no words left.
Like many others, I was an admirer of how knowledgeable, giving and centered TSandM was in online communities. SB is a place built almost entirely on words. And the vast majority of us simply have none at this time.
"No words."
"Speechless."
"I don't know what to say."
A community silenced.
You accepted no limitation in being able to positively impact someones life. The digital realm did not hold you back, nor the emergency room, the horse stable nor many other settings. You gave and gave, and that is clearly reflected here.
I have to imagine that you would react to news of this magnitude by simply staring at your screen, and resting your hands in your lap until you had the right thing to say. I'm certainly not you, but this feels like a time to try and be you.
We were DM's together, and shared a joy and passion for teaching others to be safe and careful divers in a supportive learning environment. I had the great fortune to know you and Peter, to stop by your house as I abandoned my BC and got outfitted with my first BP&W in your basement. So there are some things I want people to know. No, actually there are some things I insist people know.
You were TSandM on SB, but you were our Lynne here in Seattle. Every bit of kindness you showed here was matched by a smile that glowed from a special place within you. The well composed counsel that you shared here was no match for the wisdom that many of us received from you in person.
Frequently, technology and impersonal communication leads us to a controversial dialog. All here know that you offered reason to those heated discussions. People need to know that that very same technology also shielded people from really knowing you fully. Your essence and beauty blazed bright in so many moments. Your royal court was a parking lot at a dive site in West Seattle. There, you were in your element, among your people - that was a special setting to encounter you, and those who only knew TSandM missed out on that.
Technology can't capture the experience many of us had, of pulling up your funky driveway (with a telephone pole right in the middle of it!), and you looking out from your chair by the sliding glass door, smiling at the recognition that it was a kindred soul, getting up and opening that same door. I like to think that I am welcoming in my own home, and greet visitors at the door with a smile. But, for me at least, I never even made it to your front door most of the time. You would roll open the side of your house, and welcome me into your inner sanctum with a bright smile.
I would tell you that I wish you could see the outpouring of emotion and the wealth of comments being shared about you. I am positive that you knew all about this worldwide network of people you touched. That is what made you give. You had a chronic case of giving, of making the world better, of sharing, of being positive. I saw students do things they never thought they could do because of the confidence you gave them. Hell, I'm in that same group.
I guess I want people to know that, as you were in online communities, you were even more an embodiment of those qualities in person. You would probably blush and shrug off many of the kind words being said about you. That wasn't why you were you. I think you gave so freely because you knew how it was received. You knew that people wanted and needed to hear what you had to contribute. And boy oh boy, did you have the ability to give!
I have to think that you would want this incomprehensible loss to inform us, even just a little bit, about something we can do to be safer, smarter divers. Or at least TSandM would.
But I can't imagine that Lynne would have any solitary concern at this time other than for her amazing partner Peter. She would want us to tell him how our lives were impacted by her, and perhaps how we are trying to be more like the Borg Queen from Seattle that floated among us for a period. As an ER doctor, she worked at the edge of life and death, and was starkly aware of the line between. She knew that the words we have to offer can only slightly soften the blow. But the comfort we can offer him now is the least we can do for her. She would also want us to be there for one another in a big way.
Lynne, you and Peter own a treasure trove of dive gear, and you shared it freely with us. But the real shrine to you is your computer. It should be brought to DEMA every year so that we can glide our fingers along its keyboard, hoping to absorb just a small portion of the knowledge, warmth and kindness that you gave of so freely. It should be analyzed by generations of scientists to figure out how to capture and share that light with world.
Perhaps you already taught us how to do that, and it's time to pick up on your example.
I work at sea, and Lynne and I had many discussions about this. Within a weeks time I must depart again. And my journey will take me directly past her last dive site. There is a strict rule on the vessel that nothing ever goes over the side into the water, ever. But not this time. Not this time.
Godspeed, fair winds, and following seas my friend.
[Wow. Yes, you can all use these words as you see fit.]
"No words."
"Speechless."
"I don't know what to say."
A community silenced.
You accepted no limitation in being able to positively impact someones life. The digital realm did not hold you back, nor the emergency room, the horse stable nor many other settings. You gave and gave, and that is clearly reflected here.
I have to imagine that you would react to news of this magnitude by simply staring at your screen, and resting your hands in your lap until you had the right thing to say. I'm certainly not you, but this feels like a time to try and be you.
We were DM's together, and shared a joy and passion for teaching others to be safe and careful divers in a supportive learning environment. I had the great fortune to know you and Peter, to stop by your house as I abandoned my BC and got outfitted with my first BP&W in your basement. So there are some things I want people to know. No, actually there are some things I insist people know.
You were TSandM on SB, but you were our Lynne here in Seattle. Every bit of kindness you showed here was matched by a smile that glowed from a special place within you. The well composed counsel that you shared here was no match for the wisdom that many of us received from you in person.
Frequently, technology and impersonal communication leads us to a controversial dialog. All here know that you offered reason to those heated discussions. People need to know that that very same technology also shielded people from really knowing you fully. Your essence and beauty blazed bright in so many moments. Your royal court was a parking lot at a dive site in West Seattle. There, you were in your element, among your people - that was a special setting to encounter you, and those who only knew TSandM missed out on that.
Technology can't capture the experience many of us had, of pulling up your funky driveway (with a telephone pole right in the middle of it!), and you looking out from your chair by the sliding glass door, smiling at the recognition that it was a kindred soul, getting up and opening that same door. I like to think that I am welcoming in my own home, and greet visitors at the door with a smile. But, for me at least, I never even made it to your front door most of the time. You would roll open the side of your house, and welcome me into your inner sanctum with a bright smile.
I would tell you that I wish you could see the outpouring of emotion and the wealth of comments being shared about you. I am positive that you knew all about this worldwide network of people you touched. That is what made you give. You had a chronic case of giving, of making the world better, of sharing, of being positive. I saw students do things they never thought they could do because of the confidence you gave them. Hell, I'm in that same group.
I guess I want people to know that, as you were in online communities, you were even more an embodiment of those qualities in person. You would probably blush and shrug off many of the kind words being said about you. That wasn't why you were you. I think you gave so freely because you knew how it was received. You knew that people wanted and needed to hear what you had to contribute. And boy oh boy, did you have the ability to give!
I have to think that you would want this incomprehensible loss to inform us, even just a little bit, about something we can do to be safer, smarter divers. Or at least TSandM would.
But I can't imagine that Lynne would have any solitary concern at this time other than for her amazing partner Peter. She would want us to tell him how our lives were impacted by her, and perhaps how we are trying to be more like the Borg Queen from Seattle that floated among us for a period. As an ER doctor, she worked at the edge of life and death, and was starkly aware of the line between. She knew that the words we have to offer can only slightly soften the blow. But the comfort we can offer him now is the least we can do for her. She would also want us to be there for one another in a big way.
Lynne, you and Peter own a treasure trove of dive gear, and you shared it freely with us. But the real shrine to you is your computer. It should be brought to DEMA every year so that we can glide our fingers along its keyboard, hoping to absorb just a small portion of the knowledge, warmth and kindness that you gave of so freely. It should be analyzed by generations of scientists to figure out how to capture and share that light with world.
Perhaps you already taught us how to do that, and it's time to pick up on your example.
I work at sea, and Lynne and I had many discussions about this. Within a weeks time I must depart again. And my journey will take me directly past her last dive site. There is a strict rule on the vessel that nothing ever goes over the side into the water, ever. But not this time. Not this time.
Godspeed, fair winds, and following seas my friend.
[Wow. Yes, you can all use these words as you see fit.]
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Very sad news. My sincere condolences.
Lynn was so kind to me when I was struggling with training. I am so sorry.
jodylynn007
Contributor
Peter, you do not know me, nor have I had the pleasure of meeting Lynne however I had told Bob Bailey (who is a very regular dive buddy of mine despite that I live in Vancouver, BC Canada) that she was at the top of my list of his friends that I wanted to meet and dive with very soon.
I felt like I knew Lynne by how often and how fondly Bob spoke of her. She was a kind and generous woman, both in the online community, through her teaching/mentoring, and even towards those of us who had never met her through Bob she loaned me her DPV a few months ago for a dive out at Flagpole.
She will be missed tremendously by so many and I am so saddened that I likely wont get the opportunity to meet her face to face but still holding out hope that she will be found and tell yet another great story that we can all learn from.
I felt like I knew Lynne by how often and how fondly Bob spoke of her. She was a kind and generous woman, both in the online community, through her teaching/mentoring, and even towards those of us who had never met her through Bob she loaned me her DPV a few months ago for a dive out at Flagpole.
She will be missed tremendously by so many and I am so saddened that I likely wont get the opportunity to meet her face to face but still holding out hope that she will be found and tell yet another great story that we can all learn from.
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