Blog Posts » Tim van den Hamer aka ShockFire

Tim van den Hamer aka ShockFire

I have been putting off making this post as I cannot think of appropriate words to sum up all Tim meant to this project, and more personally to myself.

If you have not already heard ShockFire, a long term member of the World Wind Open Source community, has passed away, I will not go into the details here you can find that information on his wiki page here.

Tim was one of the founding members of the WW community and contributed a great deal to the project.  Most of you who met him virtually will probably be surprised to learn that he was only 21, his wit and maturity, in both conversation and coding style, would make most believe he was much older, and you would probably also be surprised to find his first language was not English but Dutch.

I have known Tim since I first joined the community and worked with him on most of his projects, mainly as a tester and adviser (with the odd line of code allowed when he got bored).  Working so closely and chatting so much we had become good friends, and I feel great loss at his passing, I wish we could have met in ‘real life’ but I am pleased and honoured to have known him ‘virtually’, and to be honest I don’t believe that not meeting him in person made our friendship any less real.

If anyone would like to give a message to his family the website http://vdhamer.com/Tim/ is now working correctly, or if you would like to leave something longer you can edit the wiki page, but be sure to read his Fathers wishes on the discussion page first.

A poem by Tim’s younger Sister –

Dag lieve Tim.
Te snel voorbij de vele dromen,
oneerlijk is het lot dat nu is gekomen.
Ergens tussen zon en maan,
zul jij doorgaan met leven.
Je hebt je strijd dapper gestreden,
zo moedig heb je het aanvaard,
helaas tevergeefs.
Rust nu maar in vrede.

English translation kindly provided by Roel –

Bye sweet Tim,

they’re too quickly over – the many dreams,
unfair is the destiny that now has come
Somewhere between sun and moon,
you will continue living.
You fought your battle bravely,
and as bravely you accepted it,
unfortunately futile.
Rest in peace.

The funeral Service will be held on Monday at 2:30 PM –

aula van crematorium Heeze,

Somerenseweg 120
te Heeze.

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