RIP Folkert :(

Post #393,383 by Steve Lowe 8/19/14 1:11:30 PM 8/19/14 2:38:57 PM Reply	RIP Folkert :( I just got a call from a coworker at the company Greg and I both worked at. He passed away in a car crash this morning. He hit a bridge abutment at highway speed, not wearing a seatbelt, and was ejected from the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/wyoming_man_46_killed_after_cr.html http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/wyoming_man_46_identified_as_v.html#incart_related_stories http://www.wzzm13.com/story/news/local/grandville-hudsonville-jenison/2014/08/19/crash-hudsonville-georgetown-deadly/14274367/ :( Edit2: added third link. Edit: added second link. Edited by Steve Lowe Aug. 19, 2014, 01:33:44 PM EDT Edited by Steve Lowe Aug. 19, 2014, 02:38:57 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #393,384 by mmoffitt 8/19/14 1:13:08 PM Reply	Damn.
Post #393,385 by Bman 8/19/14 1:26:20 PM Reply	That sucks :( "Pictures are better then words because some words are big and hard to understand" Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
Post #393,386 by malraux 8/19/14 2:05:46 PM Reply	Dammit. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,387 by crazy 8/19/14 2:09:32 PM Reply	Arrgggg As M said, give me a hug and don't drink yourself into a coma. fuck Single car high speed into an abutment. No seatbelt. I assume he killed himself. fuck
Post #393,389 by malraux 8/19/14 2:10:52 PM Reply	My same thought. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,406 by static 8/19/14 5:15:05 PM Reply	Sad but possible conclusion. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #393,417 by Andrew Grygus 8/19/14 7:23:28 PM Reply	If that is so . . . . . at least he took no others with him. Many do. Hew will be missed here.
Post #393,434 by static 8/20/14 5:56:56 AM Reply	He will indeed be missed. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #393,440 by jake123 8/20/14 1:47:55 PM Reply	Given the hour I'd say it's more likely he just fell asleep.
Post #393,447 by mmoffitt 8/20/14 3:17:58 PM Reply	Good point. I hope you're correct.
Post #393,462 by crazy 8/20/14 5:00:30 PM Reply	As I said, assume No way we will ever know.
Post #393,484 by a6l6e6x 8/21/14 1:23:08 AM Reply	Yes, but... I first met Greg face to face in '06 while traveling with my wife in our motor home. We were traveling near where Greg lived and on a lark I decided to try see him. I had already met Box, Andrew, Tilly and Moffitt and he would be next. I found Greg's address and phone number in a local phone book. Calling the number was useless as it turned out Greg had given up the land line. So, I drove on to house not sure what I'd find. Karen, who looked upset, answered the door bell. I explained who I was and that I just wanted to say hello to Greg. She told me to wait and she would see if Greg was up from his nap. After a few minutes Greg came out. I apologized to him for springing up unannounced and suggested we go to the motor home parked across the street. He liked that idea. I cranked up the generator, turned on the A/C, broke out soft drinks and snacks and chatted. We chatted for 4 hours! Idle chatter at the beginning, but eventually Greg unburdened himself of his family and work problems. It was then that he mentioned that only days before he tried to kill himself by running his car into an overpass abutment at high speed. Thinking about the kids, he had changed his mind at the last moment. My wife told him how her sister took her life because of marital problems leaving two young sons without a mother. She recalled my words at the time of how wrong it was to apply a "permanent solution" to what was a temporary problem. In any case, I believe that Greg had rehearsed at least once, what he has done this week. I will miss Greg not only as a contributor to our IWeThey community, but along with Scott and Mike V a "keeper of the flame". Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #393,489 by Another Scott 8/21/14 8:22:26 AM Reply	Thanks, but... Should this message be public? (There might be insurance or other factors that we don't know about. We don't know for sure his intent in this case, and may never know.) Thanks very much, Alex. Cheers, Scott.
Post #393,490 by mmoffitt 8/21/14 9:00:31 AM Reply	That was my thought all along.
Post #393,501 by crazy 8/21/14 12:44:01 PM Reply	ehh, probably not an issue, but too late if it is He had a long documented history of this type of action. And in the case of my dad (reading his insurance docs after he died of cancer), I found out that suicide still pays if it is at least a year after start of contract, since it is the result of mental illness rather than intentional fraud.
Post #393,502 by Another Scott 8/21/14 12:46:05 PM Reply	Ok. Thanks.
Post #393,388 by pwhysall 8/19/14 2:10:04 PM Reply	Ah, crap And he seemed to be getting his shit together, too.
Post #393,390 by Another Scott 8/19/14 2:22:42 PM Reply	Oh no. :-< :-<
Post #393,391 by boxley 8/19/14 2:36:54 PM Reply	no words just sad Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
Post #393,400 by drook 8/19/14 4:25:14 PM Reply	Well damn -- Drew
Post #393,404 by a6l6e6x 8/19/14 5:03:59 PM Reply	Re: RIP Folkert :( Damn is right! It was not an accident. He's tried this before, changing his mind at the last moment. Or so he has said. Depression hurts! Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #393,408 by Ashton 8/19/14 5:44:51 PM Reply	:-/ :-/
Post #393,411 by mvitale 8/19/14 6:14:36 PM Reply	Ugh. Aw damn. -Mike @MikeVitale42 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania
Post #393,412 by scoenye 8/19/14 6:18:42 PM Reply	Just :-(
Post #393,421 by dmcarls 8/19/14 8:35:52 PM Reply	So sorry to hear this.
Post #393,436 by Silverlock 8/20/14 6:09:09 AM Reply	That sucks. Gonna miss him I think the single most compelling piece of evidence for global warming is that Fox News viewers think it's a hoax.
Post #393,442 by rcareaga 8/20/14 2:31:13 PM Reply	Can we all agree? Can we all agree (easy as this might be to propose outside of the slough of despond) that should we any of us find ourselves careening down the greased slope of clinical depression, we will maintain at least the intellectual awareness that the worst of it, while chronic, is still intermittent, and that friends are standing by to talk one through it? A human being tends to believe that the mood of the moment, be it troubled or blithe, peaceful or stormy, is the true, native, and permanent tenor of his existence ... whereas the truth is that he is condemned to improvisation and morally lives from hand to mouth all the time. —Thomas Mann This is difficult to remember at the time, but it bears reinforcement. I've taken an hour this morning away from my normal duties to survey GF's contributions to our discussions. We've lost much, and if you, my auditors, will forgive a dollop of vicious mean-spiritedness here, it's a hell of a world we have going here when Greg Folkert perishes by blunt force trauma and a useless excrescence like Foreman Klucking Nitwit remains out there sucking up food, water and oxygen.
Post #393,443 by malraux 8/20/14 2:44:57 PM Reply	While I completely agree with the sentiment... It's not always that easy: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html One of my sons is in the grips of depression right now. Fortunately he is not (or so he claims) suicidal, but we would never have even known about the depression itself had he not clued us in. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,444 by Another Scott 8/20/14 3:05:56 PM Reply	That's rough. So many changes happen to youngsters that it's amazing that all of them don't suffer depression - especially these days. Best of luck to him, and kudos for enabling him to let you know! Allie is a genius. I hope she's doing well in the battle with her demons. :-( Cheers, Scott.
Post #393,450 by malraux 8/20/14 3:33:04 PM Reply	Thanks. All kids are mental. Some of them grow up to be slightly less mental. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,463 by Andrew Grygus 8/20/14 5:07:49 PM Reply	Yes, I remember my last depression . . . . . (early 20s). I was right in the middle of being really, really depressed (and fantasizing about how if I offed myself the world would be so very, very sorry it hadn't treated me better - tears would be shed). Then the realization hit me -just how much I was enjoying swimming around in this toxic swill of self pity and world blaming. I haven't been able to get up a good depression since - just can't take it seriously. Sure, I can get mildly dejected now and than, but I certainly wouldn't call it depression.
Post #393,445 by rcareaga 8/20/14 3:15:28 PM Reply	Oh, I well know Been there; didn't do that. There's bipolarity in my family history. To the extent I've shared it, the syndrome has been low-frequency: the manic phase generally manifests itself as a few weeks of undifferentiated glowing well-being; the depressive as a prolonged sense of numbness, unhappiness and anxiety. In the 40+ years since I attained my full growth, I've had two or three full-blown manic episodes, which were scary in retrospect but done with in under twelve hours, followed each by crashes during each of which self-slaughter appeared in the light of a perfectly reasonable coping strategy. In the profoundest of these, which fortunately took me from sea level to the Marianas Trench and back in just 24 hours, I would have been perfectly prepared to take my own life, but lacked the energy to effect this project. Part of the operative despair had to do with the fact that at the center of this crisis I had contrived to make almost the entire cast of my former support network somewhat reluctant to intervene. I don't mean for this to sound sordid: I'd merely become rather high-maintenance. In the event, of course, I endured that dark night of the soul. I wish to fuck that Greg had as well. cordially,
Post #393,449 by malraux 8/20/14 3:32:26 PM Reply	Glad you managed it My brother-in-law is full blown needs-to-be-on-assistance bipolar. My son gets a bit of the manic and a lot of the depressive. He's significantly higher functioning than his uncle, but it's still crippling at times. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,455 by Another Scott 8/20/14 3:48:45 PM Reply	Suspected as much from your evident talent. It's probably a stupid truism, but it seems to me that great artists often have to fight demons to get their art out. Apparently people who fit in well with their environment don't feel the need to sweat and agonize over works that cause people to think differently. Imagine that. :-) Glad you made it, and continue to struggle though this mess we call life, with the rest of us. Cheers, Scott.
Post #393,471 by gcareaga 8/20/14 7:34:41 PM Reply	Re: Oh, I well know For me depression is low amplitude, long wavelength. I spend more time below the horizon than above it, but seldom far enough below that the experience is more than moderately annoying nor so far above that those subjected to it think I've gone farther than usual off my nut. This part of your support network is reachable 24/7. If you ever decide to check yourself out without first checking in, I will kick your corpse's ass.
Post #393,483 by Another Scott 8/21/14 12:56:58 AM Reply	:-)
Post #393,505 by rcareaga 8/21/14 2:01:21 PM Reply	not to worry That was 27 years ago, a dreadful confluence of ill-fortune, sundry circumstances appearing (some new, others flaring up anew) on the same weekend. I was not yet thirty-five, and the direst issues seemed at the time as though something over half my life had come to naught. Perhaps they had, but the period so negated looms less large from here, and I have attained heights of physical cowardice I could only have dreamed of back then. If I ever go by self-slaughter, it'll only be because the impending alternatives are direr by any rational calculation. cordially,
Post #393,446 by mmoffitt 8/20/14 3:16:40 PM Reply	Right you are. My younger brother lost his battle with mental health issues at the tender age of 25. He and my parents had been at my home for the week prior to his suicide and I saw him the last full day he was alive. I knew he was ill, and to some extent, how ill. But even I was not prepared for the events that unfolded the day after he left my home.
Post #393,448 by Another Scott 8/20/14 3:20:15 PM Reply	:-( Condolences.
Post #393,451 by malraux 8/20/14 3:34:15 PM Reply	Sorry to hear that. We monitor my son pretty closely, but he's 20 and out of the house more than in these days. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,457 by mmoffitt 8/20/14 4:09:16 PM Reply	Thanks, guys.
Post #393,452 by boxley 8/20/14 3:35:09 PM Reply	don't let a doc with the drug "abilify" anywhere near him bad things happened with my daughter during her depression treatment Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
Post #393,454 by Another Scott 8/20/14 3:44:29 PM Reply	:-(
Post #393,456 by malraux 8/20/14 3:57:58 PM Reply	Thanks for the warning. http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/03/abilify.use.questions/ Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,464 by crazy 8/20/14 5:21:41 PM Reply	Used to fulfill info requests on it. List of side effects is huge.
Post #393,460 by drook 8/20/14 4:54:30 PM Reply	I had a roommate on old-school lithium He said it knocked the highs off the mania really well, without doing much for the lows. That's why his compliance was spotty. -- Drew
Post #393,461 by malraux 8/20/14 4:57:37 PM Reply	That's lithium all right Bipolars with depression need something besides lithium for depression. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,472 by pwhysall 8/20/14 7:38:28 PM Reply	There are two things that are unarguably cunts. One is cancer. The other is depression. Fuck them both in the ear with a rusty chainsaw.
Post #393,465 by altmann 8/20/14 5:36:01 PM Reply	Terrible Whether as speculated or an unfortunate accident ... Just ... sadness. :(
Post #393,466 by hnick 8/20/14 6:41:05 PM Reply	I still can not find words. My condolences to his family and those here who knew him better than I. "Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable." ~ AMBROSE BIERCE (1842-1914)
Post #393,468 by malraux 8/20/14 6:57:28 PM Reply	Obituary http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/grandrapids/obituary.aspx?n=gregory-j-folkert&pid=172185674&fhid=4926 Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,469 by Another Scott 8/20/14 7:19:28 PM Reply	Thanks for the pointer.
Post #393,481 by a6l6e6x 8/20/14 11:59:47 PM Reply	Thanks. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #393,487 by mmoffitt 8/21/14 8:13:33 AM Reply	Thanks.
Post #393,492 by Steve Lowe 8/21/14 10:29:55 AM Reply	TY
Post #393,498 by Another Scott 8/21/14 10:51:34 AM Reply	Note there are 2 guest books. http://www.mkdfuneralhome.com/obituaries-1/folkert-gregory-jay?guestbookOpen=yes http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/grandrapids/gregory-j-folkert-condolences/172185674?#sthash.B6TZ6KyM.8S2bjUPQ.dpbs Cheers, Scott.
Post #393,500 by Steve Lowe 8/21/14 12:39:47 PM Reply	Thanks Wish I knew what to say :/ I know Karen's not doing well and I imagine Jessica and Molly aren't either.
Post #393,479 by InThane 8/20/14 11:21:35 PM Reply	Re: RIP Folkert :( Don't have much to say other than "Well, crap" and "My condolences." Thank you Peter, for sending out the notification.
Post #393,558 by jake123 8/22/14 12:27:28 PM Reply	Stick around lad I, for one, have missed you.
Post #393,559 by Another Scott 8/22/14 12:39:35 PM Reply	Ditto.
Post #393,568 by Ashton 8/22/14 4:53:11 PM Reply	Yeah.. remember that Sign (by a big pot on stove, in Frank & Ernest's greasy-spoon) Do Not Stir the Soup! You could do that.. (we'd hate to have to send someone on a motorcycle.)
Post #393,796 by mmoffitt 8/27/14 1:14:53 PM Reply	Strong memory of him today. The Grand Rapids Griffins schedule came out today. When their schedule comes out, I always say to myself, "I need to hook up with Greg when I head up there for a game." At one point he and I talked about going to see a game together, but it never worked out. When I saw the schedule, I briefly had the same thought again.
Post #393,832 by a6l6e6x 8/28/14 12:19:15 AM Reply	I know what you mean. And when you remember, you have to say it again. Damn! Just over a year go a dear friend of mine in Upstate NY did away with himself. It was another case of depression. We had been friends since 1965. Of course, my wife and I had to go to the funeral. It was the first Jewish funeral I've been to. He was buried at a Jewish cemetery in Clifton, NJ. One of the things one gets to do at the burial is to take a shovelful of dirt and throw it down on the casket that had been lowered in the grave. As it happened, I was one of the earlier people that did that. The sound of the dirt hitting the casket and the vibration of the casket had an unexpected effect on me. The finality of his death was punctuated in my mind. While I still think of him often, there are no expectations of any interactions of any kind. Funerals are for the living and this Jewish burial practice has it right. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #393,847 by Steve Lowe 8/28/14 11:13:18 AM Reply	Same here. Just got a new CentOS desktop at work, and that brought back all sorts of memories of working with him on CentOS servers. Also had dinner last night with former coworkers....Greg's family and coworkers are coming to terms with this.
Post #393,852 by Ashton 8/28/14 4:28:12 PM Reply	Move to strike an LRPD... yesss, heresy: ~Tektronix 454A ... (lightly used?) Its pop-up presence simply reignites that burned-down LIbrary, in 3-D :-/ I sent him a pristine one [oscilloscope], packed bulletproof.. as led to a lengthy conversation--quite more than his frequent short-quips here. Little idea of Greg's social-skillz-set elsewhere, but it takes only one ad-hoc conversation to note what is appreciable.. Please just extirpate this one, eh? (Has no significance elsewhere, being pun-proof.) Do we not each get one (two?) Pocket Veto? ;^>
Post #393,857 by mvitale 8/28/14 8:53:26 PM Reply	Looks to be already deleted. -Mike @MikeVitale42 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania
Post #393,859 by malraux 8/28/14 9:37:30 PM Reply	"Nannyish, perhaps." Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #393,887 by Ashton 8/29/14 5:38:52 PM Reply	Gracias..
Post #393,862 by static 8/28/14 10:20:03 PM Reply	In person he was indeed subtly different than online. I only met him once IRL and I remember he could bend your ear for hours. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #393,880 by crazy 8/29/14 3:58:49 PM Reply	Subtly? No, greatly Greg was someone I will miss forever

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