Friend by association

[musicmania]

Today I was informed a Facebook friend passed away on Thursday. One might wonder why this belongs on a Leonard Cohen Forum but the reason is while this guy was not a Leonard Cohen fan he found himself linked with many mutual Cohenite friends on Facebook. I don't know when I added Geoff Dunning as a friend on Facebook or how I ended up with a person on my friends lists with no apparent mutual interest. I don't think he even knew himself but I remember a comment that even though he wasn't a Cohenite he was friended with many of those of us that were. Normally in such a case I'd remove such a "friend" as why would I want someone with no obvious common interest or indeed someone I'd never met in real life on my list. However with Geoff I never had this inclination as I felt I had met a kindred soul as even though we had met by accident I loved his philosophy of appreciating life and his love of nature. Geoff while not a Cohenite was my kind of person and even though it was an accident that we met on FB I am glad that we did and I am glad that my love of Leonard even by mistake lead me to Geoff. RIP Geoff, you may have thought you weren't one of us but you were and you will be greatly missed by all that knew you even if it was by mistake.

[Susy]

Thank you Gwen for your post ... I did not know Geoff pesonally, but always LOVED His beautiful photos of flowers , all His posts on FB made me feel fine !!!

[lizzytysh]

That's a beautiful post, Gwen. Everything you said is so true. Thanks for posting it here because it really does belong here. Geoff requested friendship with me, too, and I checked to see who else he was friends with and saw some of his postings and, of course, accepted. Over the time we were friends, I was so glad I had. He lived with his wife, Pat, in such a beautiful area near the water and LOVED beauty and flowers and nature and animals. Together, they had a son, Mark. Geoff was very very kind and gentle. Somehow, it never even crossed my mind as to whether he was a Leonard Cohen fan. It didn't matter. He would pop up on my I.M.'s from time to time and just say Hi and ask how my day was going... after a couple very brief exchanges, he'd wish me well and be on his way. I had no idea he was even ill; and am still shocked that he is gone. When I say I'll miss him, it's because of the reliably gentle spirit he brought to my pages with his photos, comments, and perspectives. May you still be around somehow reading how much love you generated in people, Geoff.

~ Lizzy