Rick The Stick – a comic on the Interwebs

Twenty years ago this past Sunday, Pan Am Flight 103 crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland. If you don’t know the story, you can find it here. Among the 259 people on board and 11 on the ground who died that night was my friend Gretchen Joyce Dater.

Gretchen was an aspiring artist and was studying abroad in England while at Rhode Island School of Design (she went through Syracuse University’s program). She was a great soul, tremendous spirit and incredible friend to many. She loved music: Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zepplin. She loved tie-dyes. She loved having fun.

I can still remember gathering that night so close to Christmas in 1988 at a friends house waiting for word. One of the girls was trying to get through to the airline saying she was family and was looking for news. Although Gretchen was technically a friend, if you knew her, you were her family. She was that type of person. She was the person everyone wanted to be around. The person everyone would gravitate towards. The person that would lighten the mood – always. Ironically, we needed her then more than ever.

I don’t remember much with distinction from those days – before or after that night, but I clearly remember the utter devastation of everyone around me when it was confirmed – Gretchen was on board. The weird thing about that is that I also recall not knowing exactly how I felt, just that I was very confused and overcome with sadness.

I know that 20 years later, for me and Gretchen’s many other friends, nothing is the same. Maybe it’s because we all lost some of our innocence that night, but I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly because we lost our dear friend and family member. Our Gret.

For more irony, the title of today’s strip is ‘The Tie That Binds’ and I can’t think of anything more fitting. Gretchen has friends that are still in touch today – almost every day – as they have been for the last twenty years and our affection for each other can yet be traced to her.

Why post this today? My original plan was to just post the logo and have a silent post out of respect. Also because the original date was on Sunday and my strip doesn’t run on the weekends. I didn’t want to just pop it up on Monday without notice, so it’s here today.