by Rowsdower » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:59 am
Pete, Rich, it's Ben.
I'm so sorry to hear this. I wish I hadn't lost touch with Ken after I moved from Illinois. I read about it here a couple months ago but I didn't know what to say. I still don't.
While I was typing this message I saw I had a message in my inbox here. It was from Ken, last August, asking me to give him a call.
He tried to look out for all Elan people, including the ones who were jerks to him. He never excluded anybody, even if he completely disagreed with them. He viewed all Elan Alum as family - even if some of us were nuts, we couldn't be disowned. He felt a responsibility to give us a place to gather and be heard. The people who gave him so much shit didn't understand that. He didn't really care if you thought Elan was the worst place in world. If you were in Elan, you were family. I'm not saying he was a saint, but when it came to Elan he spent a pretty remarkable amount of time and energy building up the site and helping people connect and share their experiences, and it was always a place for everybody, not just those who agreed with him. And while he'd probably be the first to admit he had a huge ego, he didn't do it so that people would tell him how great he was - he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do.
Rich, if you need any help with the new site let me know. I can't do any technical stuff but if there's anything else I can don't hesitate to ask.