Heartbreaking News

[kidsmoke]

Dear Via Chicago membership,

 

I've just received a message from Susan Tweedy, and with the greatest sadness, I share it with all of you:

 

"I just wanted to let you know the sad news that Jeff's mom passed away yesterday. I thought maybe you could let people know on the board somehow. I think the well wishes of the community might make Jeff feel a little better.

 

He's not going to cancel the tour-his mom would definitely want him to play!"

 

I'm at a loss for words, other than to say that I grieve deeply for anyone who knew and loved her. Each of us here at Via Chicago who loves Jeff's music has her to thank for the constant encouragement and support she gave her son. She was his dear mom, and also his sincerest fan. I never knew her personally, but every story I heard about her made me like and respect her more.

 

Jeff, Sue, and family, words can't touch the sorrow I feel for all of you. My own family and I send all our love and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers in the hard days ahead. Much love to you.

 

- Donna and family

[bjorn_skurj]

Jeff:

My condolences to you and your family. The good we do in life goes on long after we're gone through the lives we touch.

 

Dan

[froggie]

jeff and family,

 

condolences all the way from australia to you and the family. keep your heads up during the hard days ahead

[foolnrain97]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Jeff. So sorry about your loss.

[tugmoose]

I know how hard this is, having lost my wonderful mother last year. A sorrow that will lessen with time, but never completely go away. My condolences and prayers to the Tweedy clan.

[Wendy]

My thoughts are with you all. I hope there is some comfort in knowing that your fans give you a big hug of caring and condolence.

[MeDave]

Sincere condolences to you and all of your family.

[Welsh Rich]

My sincere condolences my thoughts are with you and your family at this time.

[OOO]

My thoughts and prayers.

[Rock Pools]

Dear Jeff,

 

Very sad to hear about your Mum. A lot of love being blown your way over the seas from Melbourne, Australia.

[cusacker]

my deepest condolences to you and your family jeff. you and your family will certainly be in my thoughts and prayers.

Edited October 1, 2006 by cusacker

[LLP]

Jeff,

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

Sending good vibes and much love to your family from The Great White North.

 

Peace Brother,

 

Chris

[Peanut969]

My deepest sympathies to you and your family. You are in my thoughts.

 

Laura

Edited October 1, 2006 by Peanut969

[MKHstudios]

"Well, if there's anything our friend taught is, it's that music can be used to ease us through the sad times."

-Bob Weir

 

 

 

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Warner & Laura Beth

 

 

From Pilcher's "September"

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains as it was. I am I and you are you and the old life we lived so fondly together is untouched and unchanged. Whatever we were to each other that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way you always have used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at silly little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me, let my name forever be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all it ever meant. It is the same as it was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is death but negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.

[pillowy star]

Dear Susan & Jeff,

 

although probably nothing can ease the pain at this present moment, please know that you both & the kids are included in our prayers, and that we feel nothing but deepest respect & gratitude towards your Mum who raised someone we all love and respect for his wonderful words & music which help us to feel so much better in bad times.

 

May she rest in peace, and may you both find comfort in knowing that so many people here think of you in these hard days.

 

Much love to you both,

Dunja and Robert

[skyflynn]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. I wish I could take away your pain.

[delmarkurt]

Jeff & Sue, I'm so sorry to hear the news. Best wishes. My thoughts are with you and your family.

[bböp]

Words have a way of being inadequate at times like these, but I just wanted to express how sorry I am for your loss. Jeff, your mom seemed like a great lady the couple of times I met her and it's a shame that she's gone far too soon. Since I can't be there in person, please accept a big cyber-hug and my deepest sympathies.

 

--Paul.

[Kalle]

My sincerest condolences go out to you and your family Jeff.

 

Kalle.

[alison the wilca]

Jeff and Sue,

I'm so sorry for your loss and I am thinking of you and your family during this time. your mother's love will always live on in all of you.

 

alison

[ben]

Jeff, I sat behind your mother at one of the Radio City Music Hall shows a couple years ago. There couldn't have been a prouder mom anywhere. So sorry for your loss. -Ben

[rockinrob]

Sorry for your loss, Jeff.

We are here for you!

Sincerely,

Rob

[wilcofan57]

Jeff and Sue

 

My deepest sympathy for you.

[j4lackey]

Jeff, Sue & boys,

 

Very sorry about your mom and grandmom. That's such a tough thing. Everyone here feels for you.

 

Much love,

Johnny, Jenny, Quinn & Dylan

[Beltmann]

I'm saddened to learn that your family is experiencing this very painful time. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

 

When my brother died last year, I took comfort in the enduring memories of him, the shoulders of loved ones, spiritual faith, and music (especially yours). I also found some degree of comfort in literature, which contains the wisdom of civilization, advice written across the centuries to us and those who come after us.

 

Eric

 

Thanatopsis

 

by William Cullen Bryant

 

To him who in the love of nature holds

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours

She has a voice of gladness, and a smile

And eloquence of beauty; and she glides

Into his darker musings, with a mild

And healing sympathy that steals away

Their sharpness ere he is aware. When thoughts

Of the last bitter hour come like a blight

Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;--

Go forth, under the open sky, and list

To Nature's teachings, while from all around--

Earth and her waters, and the depths of air--

Comes a still voice. Yet a few days, and thee

The all-beholding sun shall see no more

In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,

Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,

Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim

Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,

And, lost each human trace, surrendering up

Thine individual being, shalt thou go

To mix forever with the elements,

To be a brother to the insensible rock

And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain

Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mold.

 

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place

Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish

Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down

With patriarchs of the infant world -- with kings,

The powerful of the earth -- the wise, the good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,

All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, -- the vales

Stretching in pensive quietness between;

The venerable woods -- rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,

Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,--

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,

The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,

Are shining on the sad abodes of death

Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread

The globe are but a handful to the tribes

That slumber in its bosom. -- Take the wings

Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,

Or lose thyself in the continuous woods

Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,

Save his own dashings -- yet the dead are there:

And millions in those solitudes, since first

The flight of years began, have laid them down

In their last sleep -- the dead reign there alone.

 

So shalt thou rest -- and what if thou withdraw

In silence from the living, and no friend

Take note of thy departure? All that breathe

Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh

When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care

Plod on, and each one as before will chase

His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave

Their mirth and their employments, and shall come

And make their bed with thee. As the long train

Of ages glides away, the sons of men--

The youth in life's fresh spring, and he who goes

In the full strength of years, matron and maid,

The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man--

Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,

By those, who in their turn, shall follow them.

 

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.