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2008 Awards and Rankings: Top Posts of the Year

Post of the year

Nearly five months later, and it is still hard to believe that Bill "Doc" Sullivan is gone. He was taken from us too early. Our entire web community has been coping with his death ever since, from those of us who got to know him on a personal level...to those of us who merely chatted with him or read his words of wisdom on the message boards each day. One of the things that has been so astonishing through Doc's year-long battle and ultimately, his death, was the strength of his family. Bill's wife Donna and kids showed incredible poise and dignity in the days and months following his passing. The following post, from Doc's oldest daughter, Erin, is just one example of how incredible the Sullivan family truly is.

Thank you Erin, and Sullivan family for sharing your words, and for sharing your husband with us all these years. We miss him.

Subject: From DOC's daughter...
Posted by: RAMSTR on Tue Apr 15, 2008

Dear RAMNATION community:

First of all, can I just say that you guys ROCK?!

This is Erin, Bill's oldest daughter. It took me over a week to even be able to read anything that anyone has written to our family, on myspace, e-mails, cards, or here, even though my mom had told me on the 29th/30th of March that I would be amazed to see the response from RAMNATION. When I finally got myself to go back through and see what she had been talking about, I was astounded at the quantity - but even more importantly, the quality - of the postings you have made about my dad. In fact, it took me over three hours to go back through and read everything that had been written since his passing.

My dad absolutely loved the banter that happens here on a daily basis... every time he had surgery or was hospitalized, the first item he always asked me to make sure to bring to the hospital (on the list with his toothbrush and deodorant) was his laptop... and I can promise you that it wasn't just to be looking over electronic charts! He always had his laptop around during the last year, and I saw him on RAMNATION every single day that he was able. I don't know if you realize how big of a piece this website played for him... it gave him the opportunity to focus on something besides his discomfort and pain, to laugh, to forget - even for a few moments - about the devastating illness he lived and the countless worries, frustrations, questions, and fears that accompanied it. One of my very favorite things in the world has always been to hear my dad laugh (he had this sort of goofy high chuckle when he really got into it), and you all helped me to hear that sound on multiple occasions. I can never thank you enough for that.

As far as the efforts to raise money for the scholarship endowment… I’m speechless ). During my dad’s last week,J(doesn’t happen often Mom made a few attempts to talk with him about his preferences for memorial services, the “in lieu of flowers” plan, etc. (most of which he was completely disinterested in – he’s never been one to like receiving too much attention). When we talked to him about the three options that we thought about for offering people who may want to make a donation in his name, the drugs and the cancer made it difficult for him to fully follow the flow of conversation. He thought that we wanted to have everything donated to the CSU Athletic Department and then tell them how to use the money… to which he adamantly repeated time after time, “Just give the money to the Athletic Department!” Even when we had tried to change the subject to quit stressing him out about how we were supposed to dictate to the Athletic Department how to use any donations, he would drift off, then drift back, and say again, “Just give it to the Athletic Department!” The humble man that he was, I don’t think that he could ever have imagined such an overwhelming response to either of the two funds established in his memory (CSU endowment scholarship and the FCYC’s “Dr. Bill fund”) or to the God’s Child Project, but he did make sure to voice one thing loud and clear: he wanted his support of and love for CSU and it’s athletic programs to continue.

Thank you, thank you, thank you… for being the wonderful community that you are, for providing a space for my dad to be himself, and for responding so incredibly in the wake of the tragedy of losing him. I cannot express how hard it was for my family to watch my dad physically waste away to cancer, or how completely we miss him; I can, however, thank you for helping us to celebrate what a truly remarkable man he really was, and for being a source of gratitude and joy for us even in the midst of our greatest loss. God bless you!

Love, erin