Dave Alway: gentle bard

(Update: Peter Alway says that in lieu of flowers, donations to Interfilk would be much appreciated. Thanks to the Interfilk Occasional Web Team (led by Brenda Sutton), you can now donate via Paypal.)

Photo above: Dave Alway. I took this photo of Dave this past Sunday at GAfilk, two days before he passed away :-(.

I got home from Atlanta this evening. It was a wonderful weekend with a sad postscript...the filk community was shocked and deeply grieved to hear that longtime filker, Dave Alway, died from a cardiac arrest yesterday morning. Please see his brother Peter's Livejournal entry. Both Dave and Peter have posted in Blatherchat and my LJ comments section in the past; Dave would also sometimes post a poem he had written about one of my Blatherings.



I posted some photos of Dave from previous GAfilks in this LJ entry. As I said in that post, I will miss Dave's gentle nature, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, his welcoming smile, his wonderful hugs, his songs and poetry. I still have several buttons that he custom-made for me, including one he gave to me this past weekend.






When people offered him money for his buttons, he donated all the funds to Interfilk. He was always encouraging and supportive of Urban Tapestry.



In response to my post, Peter wrote the following, which moved me greatly:

"Dave loved telling and retelling the story of seeing this cute Asian woman he had never seen before at Michigan convention sitting in a circle, pulling out a flute, threatening to play it, then shyly putting it away, then tentatively getting it out, almost playing it, putting it away, driving him crazy with suspense. Finally, someone asked 'is that a flute I see? Could we hear it?' And then the room was filled with this amazing music that left everyone agape. That was probably tied for first as his favorite Debbie story."

The other story was how I got the WETA tote bag I take to conventions to carry my Stuff: his brother and I were both bidding for the bag (donated by Gary Ehrlich) in an Interfilk auction. Dave won the bag...and then gave it to me. This is only one example of Dave's generosity.

Rob Wynne has collected online tributes about Dave in his Livejournal. Among the posts are poems, songs, photos and recollections...including re-posting of poems written by Dave. I haven't yet read through all of them, but especially loved the one Brenda Sutton posted in her Livejournal: Madison's Morning. Mark Bernstein, Cat Faber, and Callie have written poems, and Tom Smith has written a song. There are and will be other tributes, I'm sure.



I'm so glad that according to his brother, Dave had a good time this past weekend, with much friendship and music. I'll be posting general photos and a con report after I've finished unpacking and catching up with work, but for now I'd like to raise a virtual glass and toast Dave Alway, a great and gentle man.

Dave, you will be deeply missed.

Below: photo taken at the Saturday night banquet at GAfilk this past weekend. Dave is on the right, beside Amy McNally. His brother, Peter, is seated to Amy's left.





Livejournal comments