Obituary
for Olof Ribb
On
the 16th of January, 2006, our friend Olof Ribb died in his 60th year, after a
brief severe illness. All who knew him-- as brother and uncle, friend,
teacher of Latin and philosophy in Greensboro/North Carolina-- respected and
loved this warm-hearted, quiet and intelligent human being, to whom the open
question was more reliable than answers suggesting deceitful certainties.
Meetings with him in Germany, on several occasions at the turn of the year at
the retreat on Baltrum, are among the deepest of experiences. Fulfillment
of several dreams-- harvesting the fruit of his engagement on the Deschner work
in the USA (translation, e.g. of the homepage and of the first novel,
"Night Surrounds My House", and of the passionate plea for protection
of animals, "For a bit bite of Flesh - the blackest of crimes") and
of someday going back to visit the home of his Swedish forefathers -- these
things were denied him. The effect of his example continues, though, also
on us.
To
his dear sister Judy, who attended his death, we write: "Since the special
days of Baltrum, he has been deep, deep in our hearts, he will be there a l w a
y s as a really wonderful person with his thinking and feeling and laughing and
enjoying the beauty around him and also his suffering with those, who
suffer."
In
grateful memory:
Karlheinz
Deschner
Gabriele
Rwer
Hassfurt/Mainz, 20.
January 2006
