Matt Hughes' recent post about 'the past' put me in mind of the early days here at the Vance BBS, beginning in the Summer of 1999 or thereabouts. My eyes fell on a chunk of petrified wood that I keep on my office shelf, given to me long ago by David Pierce. It was part of a group of pieces of petrified wood that he had gathered with his daughter Lilli years before.
This in turn reminded me that Lilli Pierce died in an accident 15 years ago today, on November 12, 1999. This was in the very early days of this board, and several of us, David Pierce included, had just become acquainted here in the preceding months. Lilli was just 14 years old, and David and Judy's only child.
This terrible personal tragedy ultimately caused David and Judy to set out on their "Looking For Lilli Tour", which took them around the country as a way of helping them with their great grief. They came to the Puget Sound area, and we (the group included Dan) had a Vancean gathering with them on Vashon Island in mid-2000. We prepared and consumed tumblers of Blue Ruin!
David has checked in here from time to time over the years; I can't remember when last he did, though. And I now and then look his activities up on the web. I wanted to post this in memory of Lilli, and to honor her and our good Vancean friend, David Pierce, and his wife, Judy.
