Jeremy Dale

Just one week ago, Jeremy Dale left us. He was a friend, a colleague, and a fellow Atlantan transplant.

He is survived by his wonderful wife Kelly and Kirby the dog. He had a great family whom I just met in full this past Saturday night at an after-funeral get-together at our home. I met his father, mother, and 3 brothers, all wonderful, jovial people doing an amazing job of struggling to find the good in tragically bad situation. Chatting with Jeremy’s dad, I couldn’t help but think of that scene in THE TWO TOWERS, where, after the funeral of Theodred, his father Theoden says ‘No parent should have to bury their child.’

I’m sorry that I missed Jeremy’s actual funeral Saturday morning. I spent the previous night in the emergency room, because, the universe loves piling it on when everyone’s got enough on their minds. As I lay there in the ER, getting CAT-scanned and x-rayed and tested – vampires have NOTHING on the blood-draining skills of the midnight shift of the Northside Hospital emergency room – all I could think was “I thank God I’m alive”. Especially because I knew someone who now wasn’t. Someone young and vibrant.

Jeremy was all fun. He had a dangerous sense of humor, fueled by lightning-fast timing. If you were on the inhale when someone proffered up a straight line, Jeremy beat you to it. He loved gaming, talking movies, and enjoying life. Even when he was beset by some problem, the same sort of life issues we all deal with, he talked about them with an eye-roll and a smirk. It seemed like nothing ever got entirely under his skin. If it did, he didn’t let on.

He was a DIY creator-owned comics professional, and now we’ll all just have to dream about where his book SKYWARD could have gone.

He was a great guy, and he’s no longer with us. The next time you have a glass in your hand, raise it to Jeremy Dale.

~AH!~