The term 'Silent Key' comes from the ARRL 'Amateur Radio Relay League'. It is a term of respect for a radio operator who has passed away and can no longer be heard on the air waves around the world transmitting on his/her key. As an example, Mermaid's Grandfather Edrie Price Jobe W6AKD fell silent keys on 19 January 1964 Mermaid's Father Edrie Sterling Jobe W6UXA fell silent keys on 29 October 2002 Here we are adopting this term for the passing of our endeared friends who having passed away can no longer be at their keyboard clickety-clack chatting in our international IRC chat room. May they each rest in the peace of our Lord! Click a name:         Click a name:     Last update: 24 March 2023

Bravheart was a regular chatter in #Soft's_Color_Comics. Brav passed away on February 25, 2001 after he had lost a long time battle with Hepatitus C. He was known to us as the "Bloo Bunny" and he always chatted using his comic character "Brave_Hare.avb". Although Bravheart's real life name was not known to us, we do know that he lived in Phoenix, Arizona. In March 2001 a Memorial Page was created in honor of his memory! Sandman_Dream was a regular chatter in #Bambamsden. He left us on February 3, 2017 after he had a sudden pulmonary embolism at the age of 57. He was best known for using the comic character "Kazumi-C.avb". Sandman lived in Chipley, Florida. His real life name was Daniel Shumaker. His brother, Viking, still chats in #Bambamsden. Daniel Shumaker Qtee - Real life name was Katie West passed away March 26th, 2014. The cause of her passing is not yet known. Qtee used the comic character: 2qt44.avb made by Fungoz If anyone knows more of Qtee's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Katie West & Kids The_Magi was a regular chatter in #Babmbamsden. The_Magi's daughter, Angel, still visits #Bambamsden on occasion. The_Magi was from Albany, New York. His real life name was Terry and he was best known for using the comic character Madge.avb All we know at this time is that he has passed away. If anyone knows more of The_Magi's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Terry Moonbaby was also a regular chatter in #Babmbamsden. She left us on August 2nd of 2014 after she lost her fight with cancer at the age of 42. Moonbaby was from the Winston-Salem, NC area.. Her real life name was Laurie Ann Sutphin Barefoot. Moonbaby used the comic character "Moonskelly1.avb" which she had made herself. Laurie Barefoot Harkin - was a regular visitor to #Bambamsden and had become a good friend to many of the other regulars in the room. Prior to his passing, he had become sick for a period of time with a heart condition. On July 14th, 2014, he lost his battle and passed on. Harkin's real life name was Robert Jarman He would usually use the chat character: Harkin1.avb! Robert Jarman

Woody - was a regular of #Soft's_Color_Comics. After Soft had closed her room, he would occassionally visit #Kewpies room and was also an occassional visitor to #Bambamsden. His main home was in #Newbies So he was known in many Comic Chat circles. Woody was born May 25th, 1957 and passed away April 7th, 2018 just 7 weeks shy of his 61st birthday. The cause of his passing is not known at this time. His real life name is Michael (Mick) Woodman and everyone recognized him in his self-made character, Woody1.avb. - - - On July 10th, 2014, Mick wrote a message in Facebook: "Interesting to realize that 20 years have gone past since I stumbled into Newbies room and met so many great people, Many of them I still talk to here now. Some have very special place in my heart to this day (floss pnut, gail angel and too many more to mention) some are just nodding acquaintances these days shared memories of good times and sorrow, life is good still. May all of you live long and prosper and remember I love you all *Smiles from The chat wizard of Aus PS I still have all the chat mp3s!" If anyone knows more of Woody's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Mick Woodman QDkathy was a techie and was good at finding tech solutions when we needed them. QDK set up the server comic-chat in 1999 which was linked also with comic-reach until his passing. The cause of QDK's death is unknown at this time. He left us on November 23, 2005. QDK was best known for using the comic character "Fairy_TP.avb". If anyone knows more of QdKathy's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Sparky - was a volunteer for the 'Phoenix-Online Foundation's' chat room, #Comic_Chat_Phoenix. He maintained the Comic Chat backgrounds pages of the Phoenix-Nexus site. He was also seen occasionally in '#Soft's_Color_Comics' chat room! He was originally from Holland, Michigan, but had moved to Oregon before he passed in 2006 - Sparky was known as Jim 'Jimbo' Schmitt in real life and had worked as an electrician. He used the character, Red.avb, which he made himself. If anyone knows more of Sparky's passing or has a real life picture of him, please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Racer - was a regular in #Soft's_Color_Comics and even hosted Soft's website for a while on his racernet.net domain. Although we all had the time of our lives in #Soft's room, Racer seemed to have lost interest in Comic Chat shortly after Soft closed her room and left Comic Chat. Specifics of Racer's passing are unknown at this time Racer used the character: RickiRacer.avb If anyone knows more of Racer's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Botender - was a real bartender and a real life comic chatter! She helped support the comic chat community with her web pages, her wonderful character creations, and her chat room called #Comic_Chat_Lair on the ircx-city server. Bo passed early 2017 after returning home from a stay in hospital in December of 2016 for unknown (at this time) reasons - Her real life name was Bonita Franks and she lived in Northern California. Although she made a lot of characters, her favorite was BO_Smurf_Wabbit.avb! Bo's website remains on "auto-pilot" on angelfire.com, however in respect to her work and wonderful website, Mermaid has created a "mirror site" here in order to preserve it in tact, (minus the ads)! Rest in peace, sweet lady! Bo was a genuine friend! If anyone knows more of Bo's passing please contact Mermaid_Elizabeth so she can update the data here. Thank you. Bonita Franks MadMax - Creator and operator of the last truely Comic Chat server (IRCX), 'Crypthome.com'. His room, The Crypt (#Crypt), has been open continuously for about 20 years, (possibly longer). He operated his server from Carmel, Indiana. Max's website, also 'Crypthome.com,' had backgrounds and restored Comic Chat characters on it as well as a 'Who's Who' in Comic Chat Gallery webpage. Max was dedicated to preserving Comic Chat as evidence to his 'always open' Comic Chat room! Max's real life name was Robert Weddle. He hadn't showed up for work for a few days, so his employer sent the police to do a wellness check on him. At 57 years old, he was found to have passed after a heart attack on or near July 5th, 2022. Our tears and prayers go with him and to his family. Robert Weddle

Deafies_Coffeecat DeafLegacy - was a regular in Kewpie's chat room. She is from the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada. Our dear friend, Eaglet, had made the CoffeeCat character especially for DeafLegacy. Deafie was an avid coffee collector and loved her coffee! When she wasn't chatting as the lil green dragon pup, she was 'Coffee Cat'! After Kewpie closed her server, we all lost touch with DeafLegacy. Although we do not know her real life name, we all feel a loss for her passing which apparently occured back in 2021. We will certainly update this post when we get more information. For now, we wish her soul ...peace and love! DeafLegacy