Sadden News about Jerry Smyth Team THRUST 1501 Mentor

[IndySam]

Deepest sympathy for Jerry’s family and Team THRUST from Team 829.

It’s always a privilege to be able to be mentored by a great man like that, we should all be thankful to have a chance to have met him. I am jealous of those of you who got to work directly with him.

Celebrate his life and try your best to be the same kind of positive influence that Jerry was.

[cooker52]

Thank you all very much. I truly cannot see where my life would have gone if it weren't for Jerry. One of the last things that I plan on doing for Jerry now is to spread what he has taught us all. I've only known him for a short period of time, but he has done more in my life already, without me even knowing him, than what I will truly be able to ever understand.
God bless Jerry for all he has done for us.

Seth

[MishraArtificer]

Originally Posted by Les Miserables

There's a grief that can't be spoken, there's a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables…now my friends are dead and gone
Here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame, here they sang about tomorrow, but tomorrow never came.
From the table in the corner, they could see a world reborn, and they rose with voices ringing, and I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung became their last Communion on the lowly barricade…at dawn…
Oh my friends, my friends forgive me, that I live and you are gone. There's a grief that can't be spoken…there's a pain goes on and on.
Phantom faces at the window, phantom shadows on the floor, empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will meet no more.
Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for! Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends will sing no more...

Be at peace, Mr. Smyth, for there are on this earth people who would have followed you to the ends of the world. The ghosts of the barricade honor you.

P.S.: I apologize if these messages for the ones who have passed away seem melodramatic. The quote is from the musical Les Miserables, and it pretty much says all that can be said better than anything I can come up with. Please accept my sympathy for the losses of two (from what I've heard: I had never met them when they yet lived) truly great men, Mr. Mike Wade and Mr. Jerry Smyth.

[Amanda Morrison]

Jerry and Team 1501 have been a friendly presence and guiding hand at many IndianaFIRST events and to many IndianaFIRST teams. To hear of this loss is, at the very least, upsetting.

Best wishes to Jerry's family and the whole 1501 team at this difficult time.

[cooker52]

We are putting a memorial up at IRI for Jerry this year. We would like to have members of the robotics community write down any experiences that they have had with him in the past years. We are planning on using them in the presentation. If you have any pictures you would like to share with us, please e-mail them to Joann at cubbiegrl@verizon.net. Your help will be much appreciated by Team 1501.

Seth

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by cooker52

We are putting a memorial up at IRI for Jerry this year.

The memorial is a wonderful way to honor your mentor, Seth. To be able to honor those who have encouraged, mentored, and given of themselves to the team, is very special and shows the community what they have meant to you and to us.

I will be sure to come visit 1501.
Jane