If you haven't heard, Albert Temple's no longer with us. (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8120166/)

In the most basic sense, at least, he's gone. And it makes me choke up.

Since learning this morning of Gene's passing I've been wondering what I could offer in way of simple words. But more surely I knew I had to at least say something. It's strange maybe that I feel so strongly about that. The honest answer that I've been giving myself is that he was just really fucking nice.

Despite not knowing him intimately, I don't see it as disrespectful to come forward with such a crude explanation, 'cause what it says to me is that, if Gene could have made such a mark on me, from many accounts a stranger, how affected then must his closest friends be? His partners in love, life, work, art? It's painful to think of it. But at the same time, I also think them lucky for being so close to such an unrelenting force of positivity.

But yes, "he was just really fucking nice" might have been a strong catalyst, but surely his creativity speaks volumes.

Gene Catlow was one of the first comics I got into when the rising popularity of webcomics reached little, young(er) ole me. Along with Newshounds and Ozy and Millie it was also the most memorable in the class, standing out for its persistently imaginative and winding narratives, emphasis on friendship and inclusiveness and scientific breakthrough, as well as its bright use of furry characters. I can actually call to mind in great detail many of its early pages, though I must have last read them over ten years ago. Gene's style is a stellar example of recognisability and also a testament to its owner's dedication. More than anything else I'd like to describe it as being unashamed. It seems obvious now perhaps, but even when I first stumbled upon it via some link or webring hocus pocus I suspected there was simply no room for guilty pleasure apologies in Gene's arsenal. He was too busy creating or making time for others. He was too busy being nice.

I can't pretend to know him better than that. That's an honour reserved for, as I said, his family and friends. Yet, I can say that on each occasion we exchanged a few lines he made me smile or laugh. Hell, even when I eavesdropped (let us say that I chanced upon them!) a few comments up or down a thread on FA or LJ, it made me smile much as though he had written them to me, for he never seemed insincire about anything or closed off.

So, I was but a stranger then, but hopefully a friendly one all the same. Thinking of it, it strikes me that in our little community, we're more friendly than we are truly strangers at least. In that sense we were lucky Gene was here for such a long while--It's a long while that still feels short, somehow. May we continue to learn from his example in whatever way we can.

Stay strong friends, family, supporters, and everyone who's ever even heard of him. I know you miss him already and will continue to do so.