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03 Jul y - 2011
A Word from the Editor With the loss of a close friend, a role model and more specifically a member of our family it sometimes feels hard to move on. But if you look up to the skies and that one sparkling star you know that they are watching down on us, carrying on their voyage, boldly going where no-
This Special Issue
one has gone before. And it is that which gives us the inspiration to do better, to celebrate their life and to carry on their vision. As UFS grows so do our feelings for each other and that bond will never be broken as long as we remember. We will remember them.
Be Strong Be Proud Be Starfleet Editor - Kermie Mistwallow kermie.mistwallow@gmail.com
Admiral's Corner In Loving Rememberance Memories from a Friend I Remember
Farewell
THE ADMIRALS CORNER
by Admiral Mike Calhoun
Admiral Mike Calhoun pays his last respects to his friend and one of the finest officers of UFS
Each morning when we awake we know that you are gone. And no one knows the heartache As we try to carry on. Our hearts still ache with sadness and many tears still flow. What it meant to lose you, No one will ever know. Our thoughts are always with you, your place no one can fill.
In life we loved you dearly, In death we love you still. There will always be a heartache, and often a silent tear, But always a precious memory Of the days when you were here.
If tears could make a staircase, And heartaches make a lane, We'd walk the path to heaven And bring you home again. We hold you close within our hearts, And there you will remain, To walk with us throughout our lives Until we meet again. Our family chain is broken now, And nothing will be the same, But as God calls us one by one, The chain will link again.
We celebrate and pay tribute to the life of Taylorholic Durant. To give thanks for her life and the experiences that we shared, and to wish her well now that our time together is over. For many of us, we’ve lost someone quite special to us; I personally have lost one of my closest friends. Tay has throughout her career here at United Federation Starfleet been a part of our family. She was an explorer, treading an unpaved path, she was a rock upon which our foundation was built, and our memories of her will remain forevermore. From games of Greedy, Greedy with friends, to her melodic laugh, Tay was always one to whom you could turn. All the faiths throughout the history of the universe have spoken of another life after death. We do not know precisely what it is, but we can hold on to the hope, the belief, or the knowledge of peace, rest,
hope, the belief, or the knowledge of peace, rest, fulfilment, and of people being reunited in love. For Taylor, the journey is beginning, but for us, there is loss, grief, and pain. Every one of us here has had our life touched perhaps in the tiniest way, or perhaps totally transformed - by Tay’s existence. We would not be here otherwise. Her life mattered. Such is the beautiful power of an enduring soul and a life honestly lived. The question is really, how will willwe wesurvive survivewithout her?
right now that we love each other. My dearest Tay, You where my friend, my confidant, my sister Andrea is one of these people that get into your heart and never leaves I can't imagine a UFS without you, I can't imagine life without you.. nor do I want to..
Your loyalty and devotion to UFStoand me to areme are UFStoand without her? and more legendary and more “My friend, legendary appreciated that appreciatedyou thatcan you It is important ever know. Everyone for us to My Confidant, can ever know. knowsEveryone I took an knows interestI in acknowledge and made in you took an interest and accept that My Sister” your career one ofyour my protégées….You career and something alwaysmade stoodyou at my oneside, of my fundamental and by god….it was an has changed with her protégées….You always honor getting to know you. going. Life will not be the stood at my side, and by Your legacy will continue same - and life should not god….it was an honour with every new cadet that be the same. Yet we must getting to know you. Your joins our ranks and learns go on, and we will go on. legacy will continue with the manuals you wrote every new cadet that joins Leo Buscaglia, once said our ranks and learns the that manuals you wrote Death is a Challenge. It tells us not to waste time. It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each
I know I was hard on you sometimes, and I know I made you cry many times... but I know you turned out to be a magnificent leader and I know that wherever you are now, you already started the UFS group to safeguard it...... My dearest Andrea... without you the clock continues to tick.... but the times change fast... SO I have to say goodbye... you have to go now... but know that in my heart you continue to live on. Tay..... It was an honour serving with you Andrea..... t was an honour being your friend You will never be forgotten Rest in Peace.. Queen of paperwork thank you for everything
Behind the avatar of Taylorholic Durant was a woman named Andrea. She had a zest for life and a skill with languages, speaking Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, English, and French. She had a loving husband and a family she has left behind. As all of the above individuals have demonstrated, Tay/Andrea was an individual who was loved by all. She had an impact on the lives of each and every individual here today. We all mourn today for our fallen friend, for one we’ve come to know, for one who I consider to be a part of my family. I wanted to take the time today to share a poem that really exemplified everything I have come to think of Andrea in the time we’ve known each other and what I feel now that she is gone.
I remember everything about you, your voice, your smile, your touch, the way you walked, the way you talked, the way you looked at me, meant so much. I remember all the words you said to me, some funny, some kind, some wise, all of the things you did for me, I see now with different eyes. I remember every moment we shared, seems like only yesterday, or maybe it was eons ago, It's really hard to say. You are gone from me now, but one thing they can't take away, your memory resides inside my heart, and lights up my darkest days. For the rest of my life, I will remember Andrea, I will remember the times we spent talking, the times we shared so many memories, memories that even time cannot erode. Andrea has always been someone who has faced every challenge that life has given her head on, and she would want for each of us to do the same. Andrea followed no set path during her life, she instead went where there was no path and blazed a trail, one for countless multitudes to follow behind her.
There is no way to perfectly sum up all that she has meant to all of UFS. She lived each and every day to fullness, her laugh echoed down each and every hall and corridor. Her work set the stage for United Federation to evolve into what it has become today. Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, love is stronger than death. It is to this promise we hold tight to as UFS officers and as friends of Tay. In everything that we do, in everyone that we touch. We pass on a part of Tay, of how she lived her life. If we can but emulate her compassion, and to try and emulate that ourselves as we interact with others, we will never lose touch with Tay. Even as she starts her voyage on that final frontier, her memories will guide us still. What the caterpillar perceives is the end, to the butterfly is just the beginning Those who never knew Andrea, those who never had the pleasure to meet her will find out through our actions just how talented of an officer she was, and how she gave her all to this organization. She will forever be a part of us. While her physical body may not be amongst us anymore, her spirit and traces of her will pass the test of time. Today we commend her body to the stars knowing that no casket, nor monument will ever be big enough to contain her spirit, in closing, I would like to share this poem with you. Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free. I'm following the path God has laid, you see. I took His hand when I heard His call. I turned my back and left it all. I could not stay another day, to laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way, I found the peace at the close of day. If my parting has left a void, then fill it with remembered joys. A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss, yes, these things I too will miss. Be not burdened with times of sorrow. I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow. My life's been full, I savoured much, Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch. Don't lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee. God wanted me now, He set me free
Tay's Life Story
In loving Remembrance know.
I would like to tell her story of what she has told me thru the years about her life , friends , and times.
By Captain Kevin Fremont and Captain Tammy Durant
I would first like to tell the story of her Real Life , for those that don't know. Born in a small town outside of Sao Paulo , Brazil...
As she grew , she became a very intelligent young girl.
Her ancestry was linked back to Spain , to a Marquis A small baby girl named de Seville of Royal Blood. Andrea Garcia came into Her Grandmother told her this world. that her ancestors
and even became an English teacher by the age of 14.
on March 4th , 1978...
She joined her mother , father and brother Marcus as a family while she grew.
immigrated to Brazil from Spain...because of the wonderful opportunities at the time in the new world
At the age of 4 , she became very sick and was rushed to the Hospital.
So this little girl was already bi-lingual as her family spoke Spanish as well as the official language of Portuguese in Brazil
She almost died at the time but pulled thru and At the age of 7 she began learning English. was nurtured back to health. Throughout her childhood she continued to excel in We almost lost her school. without even knowing her.
She became a fan of the group Duran Duran while This sickness she had , which was some kind of still a pre-teen...and had an absolute adoration of one chemical imbalance...would affect of its members John Taylor. her for the rest of her Which explains her SL life in the form of name of Taylorholic Hormonal imbalances , Durant. infections and related As she grew up , she health problems. continued to study English
She had a love of Languages and began studying French as well. Andrea had a few relationships in her teens but never really found anyone that that she was truly anyone interested in. she was truly interested in.
They had a large house and a live-in maid. After her father passed away the family began to struggle financially. By this time the house was almost paid off and the maid became like a family member and even like a sister to her. sister to her.
on the side “We almostAndrea lost worked Andrea as an English instructor worked on the her without while evenattending the side as an University to help with the knowing her.� English
Her family moved to Sao Paulo and once she was old enough she she attended the enough attended the University there and University studied Law. there and It was about studied Law. this time that her father had passed away.
She took it very hard and continued to talk about him up to the end of her life. Her family was considered somewhat wealthy by Brazilian standards up until the time of her father's death.
familys expenses. instructor while attending theattending Universitythe to University to help with the families expenses. help with the familys One of her most exciting expenses. experiences at this time was to travel to the U.K. and study for her English Certificate at Cambridge University. She was always proud of that certificate.
After earning her certificate she spent some time to Travel to Norway to visit a friend that lived there.
A short time after returning to Brazil , Andrea met someone online that was to become her husband. They talked a lot on-line , by telephone , mail...and she took a trip to Canada to meet him His name was Jonathan Reid and she met his family and they got to know each other. Jon made a visit to Brazil to meet her family and they became married soon after. Andrea and Jon settled in Canada in the small town of Belleville , Ontario near where his family lives.
Support for a couple of American companies. Andrea , who was always a big Duran Duran fan was on the fan website one day and it mentioned something about Second Life. Having never heard of it before , she logged on for the first time to see what it was about. My wife Tammy , who is also a big Duran Duran fan , also saw the article on the website and logged on I in turn then logged on to see what it was. the Date was August 7 , 2006.
Many of the fans of Duran Duran picked the last name of Durant as it was the closest thing to the band's name. The fans gathered in SL and that is when Tay and Tammy met. I met Tay a couple of days later. Tay , Tammy , Tay's husband Jon , and me became close friends and bought SL houses on adjoining land in a Tropical Island setting. As neighbors we had a lot of parties and invited everyone we knew in SL to come over.
Over the next few years All three of us began our The Holidays were she worked in Technical Second Life that day. especially nice as we Support for a couple of Many of the fans of Duran American companys. Over the next 6 months or so it was Hosting games and hanging out with fellow Duran Duran fans. Duran picked the last name Durant as it was the was a Starfleet Sim. One day Tay and I were talking andofshe mentioned there closest thing to the band's As both of us are Star Trek fans , I said "Why don't we go check it out?" name.
always planned a party for each one. All of us would come online in the evenings everyday and talk for hours about anything and everything. We got to know each other really well and even though we lived in different countries , it was as though we were real neighbors. Great days , fun times I will never forget. Tay and Tammy started going to gaming Sims and loved to play the games there , especially Slingo. Parrot Head Island Sim became a favorite and that's when we started Hosting games there.
The date was March 28th 2007. Once we got there , we hid behind a shuttle , not knowing if we were allowed there and watched a small group of people. At the time , the Sim that we are on now was completely flat , had a small welcome center and only a handful of small buildings.
Tay and me joined up and Tammy followed up a week later. Tay went right in and took every class at the Academy (I think there was 4-5 classes at the time) in the first couple of days. We were in about the 2nd or 3rd graduating class of the new Academy. UFS ( previously known as SL Starfleet) was 8-9 months old at the time. There were about 30 members , and the Academy was being built up. Some of the members at the time were, Mike , Brice , Sandstrom , Zed , Tig , Zania , Allen , Marie , Luna , Alex , Louis and Mree. The Graduating class of April '07 was, Tay , Tammy , Kevin , Cyril , Gawyn and a few others that are no longer active.
Tay was made the Gamma Squadron Leader of our class. (This was before Delta and Gamma Companies formed) She was already in leadership roles even before graduation. She got involved in everything she could and became Chief of Staff to Admiral Calhoun right at graduation and also CCO of Delta Company for a couple of weeks till I took it. In her early years at UFS , Tay would guide new Cadets as a Mentor which led to her time in the Academy. She rose through the billets from Academy Administrator to Academy Vice Commandant , Academy Commandant and finally Academy Superintendant. She put in long hours of work , sometimes 8-10 hours a day and even ran the Academy by herself
at one point for a few weeks when the Academy was low on people. Tay was always one of the most active in the group and along the way she made numerous friends in UFS. She went on to become the Head of the Operations Branch and then Commander UFS. It was during this time in RL that Andrea and her husband Jon came out to visit me and Tammy in California. I got to meet a close friend and Tammy got to see her "Sissy" as they were like sisters. We had fun meeting in person and went to Disneyland , Hollywood , the Beach , the Mountains and all over. Andrea has a habit of collecting flags from every country she visits so since this was her first time in the USA , I gave her a hand sewn American flag that I purchased before her arrival. She would cook in our kitchen and teach me and Tammy many Brazilian recipes. We took them to a Brazilian restaurant in town and Andrea loved it since she had been away from her native country for many years. Our time together on that trip in spring '09 will always be one of our best times. After returning home to Canada after the trip , she went right back to work. Andrea had many things she loved , the Band Duran Duran , especially its member John Taylor.
Her favorite country she visited was the UK. She loved to cook. Her favorite fast food was KFC. She was a Star Trek fan and of course she was dedicated to UFS.
It was during this time that Andrea retired from UFS as she felt that she would not have the time to do what was needed during the move and the settling in process.
Her and Jon started having some financial difficulties as Jon was having back problems that kept him from working as much.
Andrea started teaching English , enrolled in the University and began her treatments.
Andrea was stuck in a job that she didn't like and the pay wasn't very good. As a highly educated woman it was the lack of opportunities in the small city in which they lived that prompted their next move. After considering moving to Toronto for the opportunities there , they decided the best option was to move to Brazil and stay with Andrea's mother while she takes more University classes. Also a bonus , Andrea could teach English which she loves to do and make a lot more money. There was also a Doctor that her mother knew that said he would help her with her Hormonal problems that caused her hair to fall out and her face to become bloated as well as being hard to lose weight.
In just a matter of a few months she returned to UFS and was given the post of Promotions and Awards Director. A couple of months later she was made Chief of Staff UFS and held both positions. Her office once again became somewhat of a gathering place for people to just come by and talk. In some cases she would have several people in her office chatting away and she still did her work while joining in the conversation. Andrea was the best multi tasking person I have ever seen and she would do 2-3 jobs at the same time. Her voice would resonate through the hallways of the station as well as Tams and everyone else that was chatting with her. After officiating at the April promotions and awards ceremony on May 1, 2011 , she said she had a painful boil on her abdomen.
This condition she had was the result of her illness she had when she was 4 years old.
She had had these before but this one was different in some way. A few of us told her to go to a Doctor so she made an appointment for the following week.
Andrea loved children and had been unable to have any up to this point because of her hormonal imbalance.
She was always concerned for her work teaching , taking classes and for UFS that she waited too long to seek help.
This was the hope she was looking for.
The infection spread throughout her body and by the time she sought help at the Hospital , the Doctors worked hard to save her.
So in the summer of 2010 Andrea and Jon moved to Brazil.
We lost her. Andrea/Tay was such a loveable person , she made friends easily
Andrea/Tay was such a loveable person , she made friends easily and people seemed to be drawn to her. She was loved by many and in turn loved. She touched the lives of almost every member. Whether it was by recording someone's class , mentoring them , guiding them , working with them , or just talking with them. UFS won't be the same without her. We will always remember you Tay/Andrea. With Love from Kevin and Tammy
I REMEMBER
BY JADIA TRIELLIS
I remember… I remember the good times, when we would all sit around playing Greedy Greedy. I remember the hard times, when a listening ear was there to hear me rant. I remember the times when a laugh was all it took to make the day a little brighter. I remember Tay, I remember the fact that she was there through both the good and bad times. A particular memory that sticks in my mind took place but a few months ago. Tay and I were catching up and discussing recent events that had taken place. I was a bit frustrated over some things and she’d come to see how I was doing and offer some advice. Then at the end she talked about a game of Greedy, and off we went to have some fun, troubles forgotten and frustrations assuaged. The lessons she imparted, as well as the listening ear she offered, exemplify the woman that she was, and the life she lived. A life filled with compassion, empathy, and acceptance of others. I miss my friend and I always will. There is a void within my heart that cannot be filled. Tay was an individual full of a zest for life. She loved much and was always there, she genuinely cared about each individual here within UFS. She cared so much that her needs were second. The legacy she has left behind, the lives she has touched ensure that she will never be forgotten. It’s still hard to believe that she’s gone, that I will never hear her laugh once more. I will miss that, and more. I’ll miss the tone she took when she knew I was going in the wrong direction, the patience she exhibited on many occasions. Revelation 21:4 states that, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” That day has not yet come but I know I eagerly await the day when it does, when death and loss and pain are forgotten. Tay is in a place now where she knows no more pain, no more fear. She is at rest and yet those of us left behind, those of us who have not yet taken that final voyage miss her, and will remember her for all time. How do you say goodbye to someone who is so young, to one who was not due to take that final voyage? In times such as these we must band together, united we stand, divided we fall. Thank you Tay for all you’ve done, for your friendship, your kind and gentle heart, your persevering spirit, your desire to seek out new life and new civilizations. As we move forward this is what we all need to remember. Mere words are not enough to pay tribute to Tay, however if we remember her and the work she has done, that is the greatest honor we can bestow. It will ensure that she lives on, in our hearts, our minds, our duties, and our actions. Remember Her.
Special Thanks
Admiral Taylorholic Durant - For her Service Writer - Admiral Mike Calhoun Writer - Captain Jadia Triellis Writer - Captain Kevin Fremont Writer - Captain Tammy Durant and Captain Fremont & Durant for their Donating of Pictures.
WE WILL REMEMBER