former WP member "ASS-P" passed away yesterday, jan. 4, '21

Post Reply New Topic

A EULOGY-
i got a phone call from the santa cruz county sheriff's office, telling me that Walter Loyd Lilly, aka "ASS-P" on WP, was found dead, presumably in the shelter where he was staying. they were tight-lipped about all but the fact that he was deceased, they wanted to know if i knew his next of kin since i was one of his contact persons. he lived a hard life, a life which would have long-ago finished me off. he was homeless since the late 90s. that is a long time on the streets, a long hard grind. he was tough and resilient but could not beat father time and the vastly increased wear and tear inflicted by lacking a home. he was coughing terribly the last few weeks, his kidneys were shot, he had congestive heart failure, uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension and arthritis and circulation problems. i knew the end was near but didn't know just how near. he was a hard person to help. he had a tough exterior shielding a vulnerable heart. people did not love him or give him any respect. his life was one of constant irritation and frustration. he wanted SO MUCH to "have the college experience" and get a degree in something. i think it was part of his lifelong search for respect from a society which had other things on its mind. i don't know how many who may be reading this, remember him from his time here. i am one of the early ones who greeted him when he joined up, but trying to help him was more than i could do for long, he had deep chronic needs. he loved his comic books, and he wanted so much to do what he saw everybody else took for granted, things like listening to music on phonograph records/LPs, living in a place of his own with a desk at which he could sit and read in peace, having privacy to do that and do the other things that he never got to do unmolested by the other street people he had to deal with. i hope finally, his earthly worries are erased and he is in a peaceful place now. RIP, brother.

May he rest in peace.

Thank you for writing such a touching eulogy, Blabbs.

I enjoyed getting to know ASS-P as well, playing music with him, playing word games, and chatting on PM. I'll always remember his desire for a college degree and the struggles he faced on a daily basis.

I wrote a few responses for him in the 'Make a Sentence' thread last night, in hopes that he's found peace.

prego i will have to go there and read them.

ASS-P had a long list of illnesses.

The homelessness/on a computer didn't make sense to me. I wondered if others questioned his story about being homeless and yet being able to maintain an online presence.

I felt very sorry for him.

He seemed to have gotten banned at some point, and was using alternate accounts to post here.

I feel a bit torn. I normally lose track of whom I've spoken with on this site, but I remember him. He was interesting, and a bit difficult. I was dubious about him too. Still, if it's true he died so horribly, I feel sad.

This is the last post under his account: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=380972&p=8351389#p8351389

It dates to late September of 2019. So what was he doing these past 15 months, and was he a victim of COVID-19? If anything, at least he's "at rest" and no longer has to deal with his demons.

He was 60, assuming the age is correct. Too young.

woulda been 61 in a few days.

I remember him. Then I noticed him not posting here anymore. I always got him confused with other users here.

Don't libraries still have publicly available computers?

from his phone calls and emails/FB PMs to me, he finally got admitted to something akin to a nursing home in a cramped two-patient room. he hated it. no privacy, no table to sit and read at. it was basically custodial care.

Everyone's suffering eventually ends.
At least this life system has that going for it.

Last edited by Pepe on 06 Jan 2021, 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

yes, he used them when he could but they generally have strict time limits of between 10 minutes and an hour. so he was forced to do a lot of his web and email on a series of cheap smartphones that more often than not got stolen from him.

i can hardly wait.

I remember his resilience and lack of understanding of computers

Sad to hear his passing

yes he was very tough, he had no choice but to be tough. he expressed sadness and frustration that no patient person was in his life to patiently show him how to use a PC. he had such a tough time understanding them.

That sucks. But last I recall, he was afraid of becoming homeless, or was homeless, or was looking for a place and complaining how expensive Southern California was. At least he didn't die out in the cold. What was the cause of death, any indication?

And while you were the contact person, do you know if he had a next-of-kin? Are you heading down to CA for funeral (if there is one)? Is it a pauper's grave/cremation, or did he have someone?