Thanks for starting this thread. After having cried for three solid days, I started thinking about some of the funny things Oompa used to say. The one that cracked me up the most was when he bought a cellphone specifically to talk to ex and exiting jws. He called it his apostaphone, and he talked on it in his apostatruck.
jamiebowers
JoinedPosts by jamiebowers
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4
classic oompa - "food tastes the same"
by BroMac ini was looking at some older threads from oompa i didnt have to look to long before i came across this cracker of an op http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/144083/1/hindered-prayers-says-my-wife-so-i-stopped.
ps could someone make it clickable please.
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Stop fighting about Oompa.
by Robert7 ini am writing this because i am so upset about the bickering and fighting that is going on about oompa.
this was an amazing wonderful, peaceful, giving man who never met a strager who is now deceased and you are taking his name and running all over the place with it using it for your own agendas.
he is not a statistic.
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jamiebowers
@FlyingHighNow:
Our mental health system is horribly inadequate. It is tragically inadequate. They failed Oompa, Stacey, you did not.
Stacey, she's entirely correct. Oompa should've never been released from the hospital so soon.
You first sought this board for relief from the Watchtower and met Oompa. Now you're coming full circle by using this board for solace from your grief and to share insight into his life and tragic death. You are more than welcome here, and I want thank you for your boundless friendship to a man that many of us cared about.
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I would love for you to know my Oompa.... (from one of his closest friends)
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jamiebowers
Thanks Wes and Stacey. I didn't know Oompa nearly as well as you did, but it wasn't difficult to understand that he was as fragile as he was friendly and as lonely as he was loving. He just couldn't recover from the loss of his family. I'm so sorry for your grief.
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Video tribute to Oompa (Eric Reeder)
by cedars ini didn't know eric particularly well, and i feel terrible that i didn't reach out to him more or try to help him while i still had the opportunity.. i feel extremely helpless, but the least i can do is help others remember him who knew him better.. here is a video i've uploaded to youtube in his honor.... .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67a0imd6dng.
i hope it helps us as we mourn a much-loved member of this forum.. .
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jamiebowers
Thanks for making that video. What a lovely tribute!
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Light a Candle for Oompa
by BabaYaga inthere is a lovely site where one may light a candle for a moment of silence.. http://www.gratefulness.org/candles.
i set up a group, where they may all flicker together, if you like.. http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=oompa.
(we love and miss you, oompa.).
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jamiebowers
Lit mine. Muddy, that video made me cry and smile at the same time....than you.
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Message from Oompa's Family re Obit and Memorial!!!
by AGuest inmay you all have peace!.
i received the following via email from a family member just a moment or so ago (bold is mine, fyi).
again, peace to you all!.
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jamiebowers
I'm so glad to hear that normal people in Oompa's family are involved in his obituary and service. Shelby, can you ask whether his company's work address is the appropriate one to send sympathy cards?
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SAD news about OOMPA......
by redredrose inour friend, oompa, has passed away.
just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.
it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.
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jamiebowers
AGuest, thank you for posting that ad and using the words from Don McClean's song. I posted them here and on Facebook last night, because truer words were never spoken regarding Oompa:
For THEY could not love YOU
Stil YOUR love was TRUE
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life like lovers often do
But I could have told you, dear Eric
This world was NEVER meant for one
As beautiful... as you." -
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SAD news about OOMPA......
by redredrose inour friend, oompa, has passed away.
just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.
it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.
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jamiebowers
For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Eric,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...RIP Oompa.
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SAD news about OOMPA......
by redredrose inour friend, oompa, has passed away.
just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.
it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.
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jamiebowers
I chatted on Facebook with Oompa in the spring of '09, and we wound up on the phone for several hours until almost dawn. He told me all about his businesses, family, beach house and boat. He also told me that I saved his life, because he just felt like dying that night. He was so intoxicated that he didn't remember our conversation afterwards but thanked me anyway a few days later.
How I wish he would've picked up the phone the other night. There were so many people who would've loved to talk to him, including me. My heart is broken for Eric, who only wanted to be loved and accepted in his own right by his family. And in a larger sense, my heart is broken for all of those who have or will inevitably fall into his same footsteps.
Rest in peace, dear Oompa. You were so loved and will be deeply mourned.
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I'm a stepmom to a little JW.... need advice...
by LKM ini am a new stepmom to an 8 year old boy whose mother is a jw pioneer.
my husband has been disfellowshipped for 2.5 years now.
i was part of the reason he left the organization for good, although he had stopped believing long before being kicked out.
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jamiebowers
But if the family's divided, the last thing the poor kid needs is two hot-headed parents fighting it out in court. The child's needs quickly become secondary to either parents need to use legislation to assert their "rights" over religion. Look, to a kid it doesn't matter what the religion is provided his parents are civil to each other and able to put his priorities first.
The kid is already in turmoil, because his jw mother makes him feel guilty for doing normal childhood things with his non-jw father and stepmother. And his mother went ape shit, because they wanted to sign him up for soccer. Going to court to have the right to make educational and medical decisions for a kid who has a jw parent is not being hot headed. It is being responsible. If a child is lucky enough to have a non-jw parent who has those rights, medical emergencies will never be put on hold to wait for a court order on the use of blood, and he or she has a shot at normalcy in school. Chances are slim that either parent will be able to assert their rights over the rights of the child if a guardian ad litem and counselor are appointed to the case.