Many died sober; some did not. Some of them who died sober died from issues partially related to their sobriety. Ditto for some who died while not sober. I'll list brief information.
Some of these go back several years. Ray Smith was in early 2014, for example. This is memento mori for me, as much as anything.
Sober and general natural causes
Kishi (Kat Wyke), cancer. You're first here, dear, even if not the first to die.
Manya, heart attack. Never did get to know her real name in the chat room, sadly.
Ray Smith. Ray was an eclectic sober sobrietist with connections to Lifering and other groups. A kindred soul on secularist activism and other things, too. Cancer got him.
Itchy Bradley. COPD, well, cigarettes, got him. Lifering has steered clear of tobacco, as it's not "mind altering." But it is addictive as hell.
Scott Larsen up in Canada. Complications of diabetes.
Damien Molloy. An Irish online friend of depth.
Life-J, last name Jenson, AA Agnostica gent who dropped in the Lifering meeting room. Cancer.
Sober and mental health background
Thailand Chani
Beans and Peas (Kenya Johnson)
Both you ladies were, from what I know, greatly worn down by severe mental health problems. And, these things age you out. Chani had gotten a couple of years sobriety time; Beans had more. But they both, while staying sober, battled mental health struggles. Serious ones.
Sober, but suicide
MOG, Michael O'Grady. MOG is like the two above. Ongoing chronic depression. Age may have added to that. I've also wondered if living as an expatriate with mental health concerns exacerbates them.
(Update) And, that's what I get for writing this in advance. Ben Griffing. I don't know if he had ongoing chronic depression or not. But, man, to apparently be an Inuit, or a bit like that, and take a permanent hike outside during a Montana winter hints at that.
Unsure
Andy Ross. Andy fell off my radar screen more and more the last six months of his life. Reading between the lines of his son's comments on Facebook, comments from sobriety friends and more, I'm not sure if he was sober or not. I do know that his mental health problems had flared back up. And, sadly, I'm wondering if his was by his own hand.
Not sober, and related
Monk, aka Dale Phelps. Stayed sober from alcohol, but eventually lapsed into marijuana maintenance, from what I've heard. Given that he had cardio problems and apparently died from this, it is related, if enough pot smoking damaged the lungs. Sad. He had overcome so many other things, including the death of a spouse due to drinking.
His wife, Karen; failure to stay sober certainly shortened his life.
Not sober and suicide
Michael Pearson. He eventually couldn't live with the addiction demons any more and didn't permanently overcome them.
Unsure
Andy Ross. Andy fell off my radar screen more and more the last six months of his life. Reading between the lines of his son's comments on Facebook, comments from sobriety friends and more, I'm not sure if he was sober or not. I do know that his mental health problems had flared back up. And, sadly, I'm wondering if his was by his own hand.
Not sober, and related
Monk, aka Dale Phelps. Stayed sober from alcohol, but eventually lapsed into marijuana maintenance, from what I've heard. Given that he had cardio problems and apparently died from this, it is related, if enough pot smoking damaged the lungs. Sad. He had overcome so many other things, including the death of a spouse due to drinking.
His wife, Karen; failure to stay sober certainly shortened his life.
Not sober and suicide
Michael Pearson. He eventually couldn't live with the addiction demons any more and didn't permanently overcome them.
