This makes me think of Jeff Colby [[ItsJeff)

**RealityCheck** · December-19-09, 03:57 PM

Thanks to a link from Andrew Sullivan's blog at Atlantic magazine, I just read a Sept. 15 post about the strong emotional ties that online communities can nurture. It's titled Strange Connections.

It's about the impact of a World of Warcraft player's death, a situation distinctly different from what developed here in mid-February 2007 after the loss of Jeff Colby . . . though that immediately came to mind.

This link and an excerpt below are shared as reminders that even those who didn't toast the holidays with Django at the Old Miami on Wednesday or who don't attend other forum gatherings can feel a sense of community . . . belonging . . . affinity as part of Lowell's Legion.

This also provides a chance to pay tribute, again, to the DY stalwart who saw the love and greatness in Detroit, as his RiverWalk memorial paver says. Like the unseen friend mourned below, Jeff Colby touched may people who never saw his smile.

Every now and then something happens that makes you see things a little bit differently. . . . After an initial shock, I then found myself crying over a person I had never met. I didn't even know what he looked like until I saw his obituary!

. . . I was crying over someone I had met in a game. Was I crazy? No. I wasn't. What could be more natural than becoming friends with the people you spend time with over a mutually enjoyable pastime? . . . At first I was ashamed to admit that I was so shaken by the death of a person I knew first 'in-game.' But . . . maybe that isn't such a strange connection after all.

**jjaba** · December-19-09, 04:15 PM

This is true. Our virtual community loved Jeff Colby and organized a tribute.
He was a gentle giant for his love and residency on the Eastside. He showed jjaba alot about the Detroit that jjaba never knew. In memory forever of ITSJEFF.
jjaba.

**the rock** · December-19-09, 07:34 PM

I second you on that, jjaba. Hornwrecker lost a brother and the Forum lost a really good guy.

**jjaba** · December-19-09, 07:37 PM

jjaba credits The Forum for his love affair with The Rock.
jjaba hopes he wears socks with the tassled lawyer dress shoes this Holiday Season.

On the Westside, jjaba.

**English** · December-19-09, 08:19 PM

I still miss itsJeff. Many conversations at Cafe's come to mind, including one of our last when I had to make a decision about staying on in the city or going to grad school. I always thought Jeff would be there to chat with if and when I returned.

Thanks for the tribute, RealityCheck.

And thanks to Lowell for putting up with all of us over the years, and organizing this site.

**Hornwrecker** · December-19-09, 11:22 PM

When I saw the "Meat...I need it" thread on the Discuss Detroit page, for a second I thought: Oh, a Manrooter thread.

**Gistok** · December-19-09, 11:31 PM

Funny that this thread got posted...

I was going thru my EMAIL address book recently and came across Jeff's EMAIL address. We kept in touch often, usually about a DYES question. I decided to leave jeffreycolby@gmail.com in the book. He is still greatly missed!!

**Gistok** · December-19-09, 11:35 PM

Hornwrecker, we also miss your brother Psip.... and also PW tour guide and poster Bobj....

We miss all of ya.....

**RealityCheck** · December-20-09, 10:22 AM

Glad my impulse to post this doesn't seem like stretch. These comments ^ reinforce the unexpected-but-not-odd sentiments Sebastian H. posted last Tuesday.

Now I realize that I'm merely admitting to having a connection with someone. A connection based on a mutual common interest, built up by sharing time together, solidified by sharing our fears and loves and concerns with each other, continued by actually caring about what happened to one another.

**East Detroit** · December-20-09, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by English

...grad school...

Ding, ding, ding...

**Lowell** · December-20-09, 01:16 PM

**BillyBBrew** · December-21-09, 12:01 AM

I miss Jeff, his witty sense of humor, his compassion, friendship and his smile and think about him at some point every day. I only had the pleasure of meeting PSIP once and corresponding with him by email a few times. His loss is also felt here on the forum and I think of him also whenever I come across an old Detroit video.

**reddog289** · December-21-09, 01:44 AM

Since I discovered this site had more to it then pictures of ruins of Detroit, which I used to look at in amazement, Yet now feel sadness over. I must say the legacy of Jeff is great. Although I have only read a few of his post through the archives I feel the older forumers sense of loss when his name and a few others are mentioned.

**Kathleen** · December-21-09, 06:25 AM

One never knows when or how a friend will appear in their life. One has only to accept that friendship and be a friend. It doesn't matter if you never meet in person. Think of penpals who never meet but only correspond by the written letter for years on end, maybe with a phone call here and there. Today that scenario has evolved into the exchange of emails and/or online posts between two people who share something in common.

Some of us were fortunate to have met ItsJeff and Psip and Bobj in person. My life is richer for having had that chance, and the chance to meet so many other DYes folks through the years.

Here's to ItsJeff, Psip, Bobj, and all DYes folks!!!

Thanks, RealityCheck, for posting this!!

**cman710** · December-21-09, 10:40 AM

This has turned out to be a very heart-warming thread. I, too, never really knew Jeff, as I read the Forum much less frequently in those days. However, the fact that we are still discussing him demonstrates the great impact he had on the DetroitYes! community.

I feel very fortunate to have found this website, as I have come across many wonderful people over the past few years, and learned more than I would have ever thought. And it has been great to meet some of you in person as well.

I hope everyone has a peaceful and safe holiday season.

**gumby** · December-21-09, 11:52 AM

I still have the 2/19/07 Freep article about Jeff's passing hanging in my cubicle next to me here at work. I considered him a good friend eventhough I only met him in person about 6 times. He was always welcoming and had a smile for everyone.

PSIP I only met once when we carpooled from the Flint area to a forum gathering. I was leary at first as i had never met this person by my initial fears were quickly put to rest once I met him. Eventhough we were seperated by a generation we quickly found common ground to discuss during the car ride down. He was a truley remarkable person and had a lot of knowledge that I consider myself blessed that he shared some of it with me.

Never met Bobj but always felt a weird connection with him because when I set up login names elsewhere it isn't just Gumby it is usually bobjgumby [[long and boring story how that came about) so I always laughed a little to myself when I saw his posts preceed mine on a thread.

**Pam** · December-21-09, 07:14 PM

I never got to meet Jeff in person either, but I was impressed that it seemed like everyone liked him and he got along with everyone. [[Here and on the "other site".) An impressive accomplishment, considering all the bickering and feuding between various posters.

**Corktown Mark** · December-21-09, 07:27 PM

I only talked with Jeff a couple times in person. His humor and humanity on this site made him the very best of us.

**terryh** · December-21-09, 09:08 PM

Wish I could have met the guy..seen a picture of him, think I may have seen him at Java Hutt on one occasion......hope to meet some of you good folks someday....

**English** · December-21-09, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

Ding, ding, ding...

Yep, and I've got Jeff in part to thank for it. That conversation prepared me to possibly earn a place in a much more stable CoD job than my place in DPS. I was terrified to leave teaching, give up my salary, and go for my doctorate. For a number of reasons, I was also wary about going to U of M. But there's so much in life that doesn't get accomplished because we are afraid. Jeff saw my fear, and gave me a little tough love one day in Cafe's. For that, I shall always remember him.

Jeff Colby was, and is, one of my fave DYes people of all time.

**Gannon** · December-22-09, 04:39 AM

He was one of the best people I've ever known.

Truly a peace-maker who sought out the best in everyone...and apparently those of us who knew him on-line got the best out of him, too. His mother said he blossomed through both DetroitYES and Fark.

I am honored to have known him, even for such a short time.

His death derailed a trend of lucid dreams on the New Moons three years ago, which only recently began again. It took a few years of depressive downward spiraling to recover from losing his unbelievably funny, welcoming, and comforting presence downtown.

I feel sorry for those who bitterly continue to try to 'own' his memory, as if those of us who weren't lovers or daily visitors weren't deeply touched by this enigmatic fellow...indeed their hardness of heart continues to this day.

I am a better person for knowing ItsJeff. I cannot drive by St. Paul street without thinking of him...and it was a blast meeting people from the court who knew him when I was down at Eph's. They all had some story or ten to tell.

Not a one of them negative.

You don't meet people like Jeff Colby very often, but when you do...they make a dent.

I couldn't be more impressed, still.

Cheers and more...when I was moving earlier this year, I found the print-out I made of the mourning thread. The tears were as fresh as the day I learned he was gone.

They are bittersweet this morning, with joyful admiration once again for a solid man who made Detroit a better place.

**Andrew in Windsor** · December-22-09, 09:11 AM

ItsJeff is missed every day. Psip was a great guy too, we exchanged emails for a long time before we finally met. Oddly enough it was after Jeff's service at the Fox & Hound.

While I don't post as often as I once did, this community has put me in touch with many people I've met over the years, many of whom I consider to be real life friends.

That's saying a lot for a website.

**Lowell** · December-22-09, 10:02 AM

I likewise met Psip at ItsJeff's wake at the Fox and Hounds. It just shows how temporal life is. He, Jeff and Fox and Hounds are now warm and revered memories. Like Jeff, Psip was a wonderful person and both were great contributors to this forum, Jeff with his inside view of the Federal Court and Psip with his digitizing of Detroit news films and video archives.

Psip had brought along several recently digitized works which he shared with us from his laptop. Together with his brother Hornwrecker, to whom I extend my sympathies, I have learned so much about Detroit and both have my everlasting gratitude.

**Andrew in Windsor** · December-23-09, 09:22 AM

Attachment 4459

This was taken back in Nov. 2004. We were downtown and Jeff wanted to sneak in behind the barricades to get a picture of Campus Martius Park before the grand opening.

**GOAT** · December-30-09, 11:47 AM

English, if you aren't in the know you don't need to know. Some on here just had some tactless words and action and leave it at that.

Bobj I only knew on this forum so I can't say much about him.

Itsjeff and Psip were good people to me and I will always have great memories of both of them. Everytime I go to Shin Shin I always have a tea to which I toast to Jeff.