Category: In Memoriam
Hi all. I debated whether to post this here or not, but it's all over other sites, so at this point it's public knowledge. Nehemiah, known on here as SingerOfSongs, passed away Thursday night, following a battle with brain cancer. He was only 29. I know a lot of newer Zoners may not have known him, as he wasn't on the site very much in the last couple years because of his health problems. He was a long-time Community Leader from the early days of the Zone. I actually think he was the one who recommended me to be a CL back in 2009, though he never explicitly said so. And speaking personally, he was a good friend. We lived around each other for a few years in Denver, and had fun times. Once I left Colorado, we had many an all-night Skype chat covering every topic imaginable. We lost touch in the last year or so, again largely due to his health problems, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. Rest in peace, Miah. You are loved and missed by many.
Rest in peace ...
Rest in peace Miah. you will be miss.
Curse cancer. *frown*
I never knew him, though I heard about him a lot and saw him in a couple of public zone conversations. He sounds like he was a good guy and a great friend. at least now, he's not suffering anymore. I understand that the last few months were very pain-filled, so I'm glad he's free from that. Rest in peace, fella.
I read about this on Twitter over the weekend. RIP. I remember speaking to him in the early days on Ventrilo a bit.
Yes, curse Cancer! :(:( It has taken many many people I know. :(:(
I never knew him.
It is always sad when a person has a short painful life.
I read on the webspot a love one created for him about his health battles.
Rest in peace.
He was a really good friend, sad to know he's gone now, but glad his suffering is over.
Rest in peace Nehemiah. Fuck you Rb.
Wow! I didn't know him, but never heard a bad word about him. Everyone always had a kind word about him.
RIP
RIP Miah. A friendly face to many over the years.
Sadly cancer does not discriminate. Nehemiah was a very great friend, always around when I needed help with something tech wise. I did lose touch with him over the years. But I did follow along with the gofundme updates and knew it was coming soon. But it's still very sad to lose a very kind and generous person.
May you rest in Peace Miah, you're no longer suffering.
I remember how we met. Kevin and them were talking to "Miah," and I thought they were talking to a woman. So, I'd say: "Hi Mia!"
He corrected me on it, and that's how we got started talking. We both had names from the Bible, and I thought that was cool. We talked a lot about all topics. We didn't always agree, but neither one of us made that a reason not to talk. He was so nice, and I expected this. It doesn't make it easy, however.
You will be missed, Miah! Rest In Peace!
I never knew him but poor soul. May you know peace and love, my heart goes out to his loved ones.
What can I say? There were times when he and I would be on one Ventrilo server or other at any given time back in the day. Whether it was the zone's, or a friend's server, we'd talk at least once a day back in the earlier years of the zone either just to one another, or to all the people we'd use to hang out with back in those days. I am sad that as time went by, and as we both went off to do our own thing, we did lose contact, and hadn't spoken in... gosh, probably 7 or 8 years. That is the one thing that I wish I would have been able to change. RIP, Miah. You weren't forgotten, and the good times that we had won't be forgotten either.
I remember the one and only time him and I were on TeamTalk at the same time. He sounded friendly. I recall him asking what you said if he didn't hear you, and I could tell he cared about what everyone had to say. Even moreso admirable was his willingness and compassion to help other people solve technical related issues. I have heard multiple accounts about how much he enjoyed lending a hand to those in need of assistance with technology and what a great teacher he was. I truly regret not taking the opportunity to get to know him personally. I may have been able to meet him when I was in Denver, but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. I empathize with his family and with those of you who held him closely and dearly. He is fortunate to have the love, support, and reminiscence that he has from you.
Ryan
I will miss him. I had the pleasure of being roommates with him at the national
convention in 2009
I met him a while ago at a national convention, can't remember witch one. But I ended up in a room with him and a few other people I know, and he was a very nice person to everyone in the room. Hurts me to hear about his passing. I knew it was comeing because of the go fund me posts, but doesn't make it any better.
rip Nehemiah
This will be a long post, so please bare with me. I've known Miah since 2011
and he was one of the brightest stars to ever grace this earth. For those of you
that knew him, seeing him at the end was such a contrast, and it was really
fucking hard. He couldn't swallow, he had to be fed through a feeding tube, and
he could barely talk. He was in his bed and had to rely on everyone else. He
hated it. He made that very clear to all of his friends, but he fought and fought
and fought some more, until he had to be moved to Arkansas with his parents.
Miah, my dear, thank you for everything. Thank you for all those fun nights on
TT playing little exam, thank you for allowing an obnoxious 20-year-old into
your room at state convention and filling me in on all your thoughts on the
proceedings. Thank you for being the one person who helped me through the
worst time in my life. You were there for me and constantly making sure I was
all right. Thank you for all the laughs we shared. Thank you for being so
accepting, I'm so glad I was able to be with you while you fought. Thank you for
all our crazy adventures and ridiculous memories. Most of all, thank you for
being such a good friend to everyone. Almost six months have gone by and it
still doesn't get any easier, knowing you're gone. I love you Miah. Stay gold.
BTW, if anyone would like to share more memories of Miah, I'd love to show this
post to his amazingly strong parents. I know they will want to know more, just
how loved their son was.
The memories that most readily come to my mind probably wouldn't be appropriate for sharing with his parents. LOL. If I wrote those, they'd be needing brain bleach...one of my favorite terms he used. I'll have to think of some that are suited for family.
Ahahahahahaha. Same here.
Several of them involve Miah and CL Scott, so you know damn well those aren't family-friendly. Lmao!
I'm late to the thread because I haven't been terribly active here again until recently, but now that I've found it, I wanted to leave a note too. Not a day goes by that I don't think of and miss Miah. It's nice to see so many people leaving words of love and positivity like flowers on a grave. I regret that I wasn't able to be there in person for Miah's last days, or that he and I hadn't gotten to hang out in person, period. But as so many of you here know, long-distance friendships can be as close as any, and he and I were. We ebbed and flowed like the tide--curse our introversion--but what I loved was that each of us understood the other, never judged, always supported--and whenever we'd play catch-up, it was a memory made. I met Miah here back in 2004 or 2005 when I'd first joined under an old account whose corresponding e-mail and password are history. We didn't know each other well, but I remember I really looked up to him. Then I re-met him in my last year of college. I was hanging out with Kev and a few others on TeamTalk, maybe Dan and Chelsea, or Sam and Anibal, or Kai and Joseph. We had so many late-night hangouts that it's hard to know for sure who all in the core group was there that particular day. I was singing an original song I'd written, and Miah hopped on in the middle of the song without my hearing. The last chords hadn't died out before his unfamiliar but sweet voice said, "Oh my God ... who is that? Who's singing?" I thought it was adorable and hilarious and, in retrospect, a great compliment coming from him. And so our friendship was *finally* born. We spent hours together on Skype and FaceTime or group chats on TeamTalk. We swapped endless playlists, played countless games of Uno, 1000 Miles, Scopa, and the Little Exam, laughed A LOT mostly over really dumb shit, shared stories and secrets, helped each other through things. He taught me to use NVDA, and I helped him with a public transit project he was working on. I sent care packages to cheer him up, and he gave me a little money as a graduation present so I could put it toward an iPhone 5S, because its camera was rumored to be excellent and might help me to continue my photography with greater ease. I described *everything* to him--well, as well as I could see, anyway. I clearly remember talking to him on the phone while walking to class or riding the train home from school, sending each other encouraging or silly texts or recordings of live music when we walked past, sometimes even being each other's alarm clock if we'd napped at odd times or pulled an all-nighter. When I had my rail platform accident in 2014, his voice on HeyTell was one of the first I heard during recovery. When he had various health problems, I made sure to check in. He'd told me the tumors had come back with a vengeance, but suddenly, after just a few weeks at my new job, I couldn't get a hold of him. I had to hunt him down. Thank God for Esha, is all I can say. I reached out to her after reading Miah's GoFundMe page. By that time, Miah was weak and had difficulty speaking, let alone staying caught-up on e-mails. She facilitated a phone call with him so he and I could talk. There were tears and smiles a plenty. I've been around a lot of death. But I've never lost a best friend, and I consider Miah one of mine. It was, and has been, hard, although I'm glad he's no longer suffering. I feel like he's still with me sometimes, which is selfish but also weird in the best way. Our songs come on at the most random times, the smell of Starbucks coffee reminds me of text conversations I had with him when he'd taken himself to coffee as a reward for getting through treatment. Scentsy's Lucky in Love fragrance reminds me of the all-nighter Skype dates we pulled in college, because that was what was always warming in the burner I'd smuggled into my dorm. I am always remembering. It balms my heart to see how many people Miah brought together, particularly in his last days. This thread shows that. Whether you knew him well or not, each of you has left a word to honor or remember him. I know my post was kind of long here, but for those who knew Miah well, I think you'll understand that sometimes it just helps to share about someone you loved in common. I'm going to leave two links here: one is a cover I sang of John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders," one of Miah's and my songs, for the playlist Beth put together for him. The second is a poem I've been writing and tweaking for over a year. I don't know if they'll do you justice, friend, but I love you. Sunshine On My Shoulders (John Denver Cover) Nehemiah: A Poem