Goodbye Hector

Hector passed away this morning after fighting cancer for over four years.  I knew when I visited him at the hospital on Tuesday that his time would be short, but I'm still shaken by the news.  

I first met Hector at a Games Weekend, after trading emails with him.  I was new to the area and delighted to meet people like me, who loved stories and games that other people dismiss as weird.  During our first conversation I was struck by how open Hector was.  He spoke to me as if we had long been friends.  He told me in confidence about how he'd written to Gary Gygax and that he would be a guest at an upcoming Games Weekend.  Months later I was lucky enough to win a seat at Gary's table, so I have Hector to thank for that unforgettable experience.

It was around that time that I started thinking about a little town called Farmingham and the people who lived there, and I arrived at another Games Weekend nervous that I wouldn't have any interested players.  Hector actually ditched another game to play in mine, and it was there that he began his relationship with Raine.  I gave birth to her, but Hector made her live, through his amazing dialog ("You call being a Slayer an opportunity?  Now a Hooter's girl, that's an opportunity!") and his many stories that expanded the world outside Farmingham's city limits.  

There's a sad silence tonight at the Double R Diner, the Vault, Farmingham High and the Old Mill.  Out behind MacEnroe Motors, Raine sits with her head in her hands as the tears flow, and I'm right there with her.