Damien Dixon, 1976-2005

[dr4b]

This really hit me hard... the CMU/APhiO people from my time period will probably care, if they don't know already. I didn't. I feel terrible. Did I really just miss this?

luminifer randomly found out that Damien Dixon passed away in November of cancer. One of Damien's piano teachers has created a remembrance page about him. I didn't even realize he played piano so well. I don't think I ever heard him play.

Man, Damien was one of the craziest, silliest, wackiest guys I ever knew, and he was always so goofy and sweet. I knew him best when we were both active in Alpha Phi Omega; we met at the start of our sophomore year when he came to some community service project rush events. We took a few classes together (mostly I remember 18-240 (computer engineering), and intro Japanese); we were both class of '98, him in ECE and me in CS->English, so we had a few overlapping classes but not a ton. He always had such a great sense of humor and was always so ready to be kind and supportive of just about anyone, even the people he hadn't seen in forever.

I remember he sent me email a couple of years ago because he had found my DDR information page, back when I was still in Pittsburgh, and he was really into DDR too. He said we'd have to get together and play sometime at Carnival or whatnot. Searching back and rereading the email, I see the last line was "Dee...would you sing Trip Machine? :-D"

I don't think I ever saw him again after that, nor did we ever play DDR together. That sucks.

Man, he would have only turned 30 next month, too. That's so young. And rereading his last entry in dfdmaestro is just so... well, it's so Damien. That is all.

I think I need to stop thinking about this, because otherwise I'm going to start crying on the outside too, which would be bad while I'm at work.

I'm really glad so many of you guys I went to college with are on LJ and I can keep in touch and know what you're up to. One day you find out suddenly that someone you really should have gotten in touch with is no longer around, and it's just a terribly sad thing.

Comments

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

damn.

I missed it, too.

:(

how sucky.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

One day you find out suddenly that someone you really should have gotten in touch with is no longer around, and it's just a terribly sad thing.

Yeah. Its worth remembering to cherish those people who you love.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

[jayspec.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. It's such a tiny, tiny world. My friend carasol was good friends with him, and was with him in his last days. She talked about him a lot, but I didn't know he was from CMU, and I didn't know that you knew him as well...

[dr4b]

Oh, I wish so much we'd known the connection, so I could have gotten ahold of his phone number and text messaged him something in those last days, or something.

It definitely does sound like he was surrounded by some pretty wonderful people though. Maybe carasol and luminifer should work together, since Alex wants to try to find some of Damien's music and get it published on a CD to sell for the scholarship endowment...

[carasol.livejournal.com]

Damien was a really great guy. It was very nice to read your memories of him. He always appreciated knowing the impact he had on other people's lives, and would certainly have enjoyed knowing that you remember him so fondly.

Damien's teacher is working to get some of his music published, as she has many connections in the industry. I'm hoping to compile collections of his writings (random musings, diary entries that are really philosophical essays, witty lists, etc.) and get those published, as well. The more people who are touched by his creativity, the better!

[dr4b]

shoebox_bird was one of his little brothers in APhiO, and cyano was also a good friend of his. I'm betting a lot of "fond memories of Damien" entries will pop up once the word gets around the CMU circles; I don't think a single person out there would ever have anything but great stuff to say about him.

I don't know how much he talked about his time at CMU, but he was our brother in Alpha Phi Omega, a fraternity that does service projects... a lot of people both within and without the organization really adored him. I have no idea what we can do, but I bet there are a lot of people who would want to help out in his memory if we can!

[ohsochewy.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry about your friend. Both that entry and the previous one sound like even though it was fairly drawn-out, he had good people around him. He sounds like a wonderful person.

[bn29.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'd not heard anything about his death. Thank you for telling us. :(

[dr4b]

I wonder whether Kappa Chapter could do anything for the Damien Dixon scholarship that his piano teacher is trying to set up? It seems like the sort of thing that would be up our alley... you're still on the advisory council, right?

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

:-(

Hearing about each passing diminishes us all.

[ka3ytl.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

Because:
No Man is an Island (john dunne -- one I had to memorize in 8th grade. I still remember it)

[eub.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. It doesn't seem right.

It's... on the bitter side of bittersweet to find out about people because they died.

[carasol.livejournal.com]

Damien's sister is having a memorial for him in New York City on February 26, the day before what would have been his 30th birthday. Let me know if you would like to come, and I'll ask her to send you the evite.

~Jena Tesse Fox
(a friend of Damien's from high school)

[dr4b]

That's both really cool and still really sad. Unfortunately, getting to NYC on the relatively short notice might not be possible for me since I live on the west coast now, but I'll look into it today and let you know.