Vale Kathleen Tinkel

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It is with great sadness that I have to report to you all that Kathleen Tinkel lost her battle with cancer on 21st November. Her husband Jack was with her at the end, and was joined by one of his and Kathleen's oldest friends soon after. This friend is helping Jack deal with the emotional and physical challenges he has to face now.

I've known Kathleen for around 20 years, ever since I joined the Desktop Publishing Forum on CompuServe. She helped me improve my skills as a document designer and typesetter with encouragement, incisive but never cruel criticism and – mostly – by example. She also taught me the art of being a sysop, an art that is sadly missing in many of the online forums today.

But Kathleen was much more than a sysop on an online forum. She learnt about type at college, then started work at a newspaper. Her working life always revolved around type and design, and she was also an early adopter of computer technology, buying one of the first Macs in 1984. A talented writer, she contributed to leading journals for many years.

Over the years of working together on forums, Kathleen and I became friends, sharing forum management both on CompuServe and later in our independent forum endeavour here. We had long online chats when this became possible, developing the ability to carry on a conversation covering several topics at a time and keeping track of all of them! During some of these chats, we performed major upgrades to the forum software while simultaneously discussing everything from world and domestic politics to the mundane such as plumbing, meal planning and irritating neighbours. And everything in between. I dunno about KT, but I also managed to cook and eat meals, set and move garden sprinklers, and do the washing including hanging everything on the line.

Kathleen was one of those people who influenced everyone she met. She was also a great raconteur, and I have fond memories of the vignettes she would drop into discussions in both business sections and the Pub. Please express your feelings and contribute your favourite KT stories here for all to enjoy.