1022 replies to this topic

[MurmursAdministrator]

Please post your thoughts about Jessica's passing in this thread. We will keep the thread here permanently as a memorial to Jessica and a celebration of her life with us on Murmurs.com.

Jessica Masako Kubo
1981 - 2004

Jessica Masako Kubo, 22, a student, died Saturday, March 20, 2004, at her residence.

Funeral: 4 p.m. Thursday, First United Methodist Church, Keller, Texas.
Burial: Private.

Memorials: Should friends desire, memorials may be given to The Matthew Shepard Foundation, 301 Thelma, #512, Casper, Wyo. 82609.

Jessica was a 2000 graduate of Keller High School. She was an avid Scrabble player and a dedicated member of the R.E.M. Fan Club, as well as an author of Bill Poems.
She was preceded in death by her grandparents, William and Jessie Smith and Yeiroh and Masako Kubo.

Survivors: Parents, Lucy and Tatsushi "Tex" Kubo, Keller; sister, Suzannah Kubo, Keller; aunts and uncles, including Carey and Pam Smith, Austin; cousins, including Carolyn and Ellie Knott, Garland and Missy Carra, Fort Worth; and special uncle, Charles Estess, Clinton, Miss.

Published in the Star-Telegram from 3/23/2004 - 3/24/2004.

Guest Book • Flowers & gifts


http://www.legacy.co...ersonId=2053040

[MurmursAdministrator]

Jessica's first post to Murmurs on August 5, 2001.

Her profile

[DrinkTheElixir]

http://www.murmurs.c...789&fullimage=1



Jessica was a huge part of this community and will be sadly missed.  She had a big heart and never had a bad word for anybody. She truly was a credit to her parents and family.

  I will miss her posts, her honesty and sincerity. Farewell and sweet dreams Jessica, it was a pleasure knowing you,

Grace xx

[WeWalk]

Jessica

We miss you...



We will never forget you.

Our little community which always met for some fun and some chat, some poems and some tea at Bill's place will never be the same without you. Wherever you now are... rest in peace, Jessi.

[Sweet Fanny Addams]

I am so moved and inspired by Jessica's uncrushable spirit. She was very young, but she had a lot to say. She will always remain in my memory as a friendly, bubbly young woman who had to struggle with many obstacles, but  stayed true to herself and always had optimism and faith in the human spirit.  Jessica loved music, she loved people and she was nothing if not passionate. Most of all, she loved her family. I've been moved by her posts where she speaks of the support and love of her family, and I think this gave her much of her  strength, spirit and spark. I will never forget Jessica Kubo. She was and is a shining star. God bless, Jessica.
etty

[twistedkitemike]

I will post again in this memorial thread, but I have only just noticed that Jessica quoted me from one of my PMs in her sig.

I wish that I had noticed before :(  We had quite few chats recently by PM and I tried my best to offer Jessica some words of encouragement to help fight her demons.

I will review my PMs and offer more reflection. Perhaps the best memorial thought that I can offer is that reading Jessica's sig. brought a tear to me eye.

Now, I'm not Mr Macho and it is not that I don't care about things, but it takes an awful lot to bring a tear to my eye.

Jessica was a very sweet girl, in fact she had enthusiasm and spirit that you don't see in many people.

I will miss her; we will all miss her. My thoughts are with Jessica's family.

May you rest in peace, Jessica.

Lots of love






Mike...............................................................

[stipeeyes]

I first met Jessica on www.myrem.com.  

I had read this post by her and I decided to pm her and we became chat and email pals until last year.

She said:

Stipe is a role model! I hope you know Stipe is an extreme role model for me and most likely many others...Well, he has been my role model since 98 and I was 17 back then so uh huh that's the anwser...I mean he has that charming appeal. Can be a little kid by going on Seaseme Street but at the same time can be masculine and femmine. I mean I think he is a role model to many people age or gender wise. I can only hope that I am or will be as great as he is personality wise someday...I try to follow the footsteps and think what he might do in the case. Also...He is a hero for me actually as well since his lyrics saved my life with Sweetness Follows and Everybody Hurts many times when I went thourgh a deppressing suicidal stage at 18 so I salute him! Now I'm happier with myself and I'm not afraid of being myself...Okay maybe just a tad afraid but not so much! I just wish I could thank him in person because he has been a very big influence (and still is) in my life. God Bless that man! (If God hasn't already.) P.S. keep on truckin! (laughs)

[Lori]

When I joined murmurs Jessica was one of the first people I met in the chat room.  She told me she was from Texas and was learning to play guitar and song writing.  She said Michael Stipe greatly inspired her.  I told her I would love to hear some of her songs so she sent me some lyrics she wrote via pm.  I printed them out at the time and kept them in a folder I have for R.E.M. memorbilia.  One or two words at the end of the lines were cut out by my printer unfortunately.  
Here's to Jessica.

[Lori]

http://www.murmurs.c...155&fullimage=1

[Sheila S.]

I have not been here long, and I only knew Jessica through observation, through her posts.  What I saw was someone fighting the good fight to just be herself.  And I admired that spirit that I saw in her.

These are a few lines from a poem she posted a few months back.  

Well all of the world will see one day yes one day
I am...Who I am...I am. Me.

May she rest in peace now.

[OneArpeggioPete]

a delicate flower
not made for the outdoors
but smelling just the sweeter

a small sun
close to a black hole
but shining just the brighter

a short life
ending too soon
but remembered just the longer

a spirit soaring free
and a new star named jessica

watch her blinking in the sky at dusk
and smile
for it is a smile that is her legacy
born out of pain and undefeated

r.i.p. jessica. i wish i had known you better.

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[DrinkTheElixir]

Kahlil Gibran

For what is it to die but to stand naked
in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to
free the breath from its restless tides, that it may
rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of
silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain
top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your
limbs, then truly you shall dance.




We miss you.

[driver8]

Though I'm not a regular visitor to Murmurs anymore, Jessica always used to sing the praises of poems I'd write in the Bill Poems thread.

Even though some of them were awful. We used to talk about stuff in the chatroom and swap stories and stuff. I can't believe this has happened. I never knew it might.

What to say except I'll miss you Jess. Take care sweetheart x

Edward
driver8

[Kaleidoscope]

This poem makes me think of Jessica:

Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you.

- Pueblo Blessing



Jessica was very good at holding on. She had burdens most of us will never experience, and yet she was able to hold on to hope and innocence. It is that spirit that I will always remember. It is up to each of us to hold on to that spirit, which this world today desperately needs.

Rest in Peace Jessica. Now you can watch all of the REM concerts all over the world, I'm sure God will give you a front row seat :)

[Hyena8]

The rain came down
the rain came down
the rain came down on me
the wind blew strong
and summer's song
it fades to memory.

I knew you when
I loved you then
in summer's yawn, now hopeless
you laid me bare
and marked me there
the promises we made

I used to think, as birds take wing,
they sing through life, so why can't we?
we cling to this, and claim the best
if this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain,

The nighttime creases
summer schemes
and stretches out to stay
the sun shines down
you came around
you love the easy days

But now the sun,
the winter's come
I wanted just to say
that if I hold
I'd hope you'd fold
and open up inside, inside of me

I used to think, as birds take wing,
they sing through life, so why can't we?
we cling to this, and claim the best
if this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain.

This winter's song
I'll sing along
I've searched its still refrain.
I'll walk alone
if given this
take wing, and celebrate the rain.

I used to think, as birds take wing,
they sing through life, so why can't we?
we cling to this, and claim the best
if this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain.
************************************
Rest in peace dear soul. Your memory will be kept alive by family and friends and through the music of REM. Thank you for lighting up our dark little lives. You came along just when all of us needed you most. I hope your demons will leave you  now. You are in pain no more.

BJF

[TidgeyPud]

I never understood what 'Michael's Circus Peanut' meant.  But it always made me smile.

[WaterHyacinth]

Oh gosh, where do I start...

I first met Jessica in the chatroom, we ended up talking during a long while, and she asked me if she could add me to her Buddy List... I was touched because I was a bit new at the time (had been here only for some weeks I think), and was the first person to ask me that.

Later we would be exchanging PMs and talking on MSN. I learnt about her unfortunate problem, but always offered her support. We would always kid around in chat. Despite her issues, she was always fun and a very bright person, who always made me smile.

While searching through my list of PMs, I found the very first one she send me. Thought I'll share with you guys:

hey
hey how are ya? I'm right now at the moment writing stuff on word processor about stuff to give to my counsoller next time. What's w/you? How old are you? I can't seem to think clearly of what I need to tell her. It's coming and going, and right now it's gone so I'll talk till my head's bell dings again. What have you been up to lately? Me nothing. Don't even try to ask...Except for my counsoller yesterday and Starbucks nothing. Going to Barnes & Noble this weekend probably tonight. I know my mom will be tired but, I'll whine to her because I haven't been out of the house all week. And she'll cave in (she always does) I always go "I WANNA GO SOMEWHERE!" and she goes "Where do you wanna go?" and I say "I dunno know. Just somewhere" and she ask's me to tell her where I want to go then we'll go there, but since I know where I want to go tonight as well as our local Starbucks then she'll take me. Anyway, gotta see what's up w/my other friend. She hase't respond to me yet about my last PM but read it like 3 or 4 days ago and I'm scared she got scared from it. Reply!
Jessica

Later that afternoon we talked a bit, and started exhanging PMs. She'd always share her problems with me, and we'd end up talking about other stuff, because we always drifted off the subject...

"Michael's circus peanut". That made me smile, too.

I'll miss you, Jessica.

[Mary]

I didn't know Jessica as well as a lot of other people here--I mostly knew her through her posts on the boards.  But I feel like I learned a lot about and from her, through reading her words...and whenever I'd see her avatar, I would smile--she had such a heartfelt, honest connection she felt with R.E.M. & Stipe in particular, it was sweet to see.

I will miss having her voice on the boards.  

This is something that was read for a friend of mine that died in high school...I'm not sure which tribe it's from, but I've always found it beautiful.

Mary
-----------------
I give you this
One thought to keep—
I am with you still,
I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken
In the morning’s hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars
That shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone—
I am with you still,
In each new dawn.

(Native American Prayer)

[Turtle]

I met Jessica here, after I had recognized her from another board that we were both members of. I saw someone posting here and I just knew that it had to be her.

I sent her a pm, just to make sure. And of course, I was right.  Jessica was one of a kind.

She was so very very sweet to me. Even in my first time speaking with her. By the end of the day, we exchanged emails and I started to chat with her on MSN.

We didn't get to talk as often as I would have liked, but each time I spoke with her was special. She was so smart, funny, kind and... just wonderful.

You know, in those times that we talked, Jessica taught me a lot about myself, about life... Things that I will never forget.

I am a better person because of her and I will miss her very much.

With love,
Ashley

[wendellg]

Jessica approached life with what I can best describe as reckless abandon, in the way that only those with big hearts, and the very young, see the world. There were times when I did not know whether to give her a big virtual hug or shake my head in exasperation, and sometimes I wanted to do both.  

I tend to hold back and be a bit introverted both on line and in the 3D world, but from the very first PM Jessica sent me, she treated me as an old friend. She was open and honest and faced a lot more personal struggles than many of us ever will and she continued to have hope.  In one of her last PMs to me she wrote of feeling better, mentally and physically, and how she hoped I was doing well too.

I believe in a life after this, so I believe that Jessica has gone on to a better place, where she is healthy and happy. My most sincere condolences to her family and friends, all those she left behind.    

Jessica, may you rest in peace.

Nan