Rest in Peace Fiver aka Melissa Petrey Kern
Posted By Kathleen David on March 8, 2015
Today is her birthday, which makes this harder not that it is not harder enough.
I was first introduced to Melissa at a DragonCon by my friend Anya. I had some puppet on my arm, which if you have seen me at DragonCon you know is pretty much SOP, and we talked that evening about puppets and fandom. We would meet up at DragonCon catch up on news and agree to at least say hi the next year.
I remember one Dragon Con she wasn’t looking like her usual self. She was subdued compared to other times I had seen her. She told me that she was doing a battery of tests because she was feeling off.
By this point we were Live Journal buddies so I kept up on things there.
She had Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or, as it is know, Lou Gehrig disease.
Being true to herself, Melissa, or Fiver as a bunch of us called her, didn’t let this slow her down.
She did a lot in the time since her diagnosis. She still attended Dragon Con and I saw her there. Through the power of fandom her husband and her were in the Hobbit movie. The costuming and props department did a wonderful job disguising her wheelchair and breathing machine. She was the mascot for Chucks for Fiver which is a charity for ALS. She couldn’t do the ice bucket challenge but a number of people did it for her or in her name.
She kept up with things in people’s lives even when she didn’t or couldn’t comment. I know this because at Dragon Con we talked about things I wrote about Caroline.
Six years ago she wrote a list of 25 things about her I place it here so that you can know a little bit about this wonderful person. I think number 25 she did in spades.
Fiver you will be missed and you will be remembered.
1. I love flamingoes. Real ones, plastic ones, embroidered flamingoes on shirts, I just love ’em. I suppose it’s the Floridian in me.
2. Keeping in line with #1, and the color Pink, I love Piggies. Especially their curly tails.
3. For years I have labored under the delusion that Cinderella Castle in DisneyWorld is actually mine, and I am just loaning it to Mickey.
4. I am a lover of all things Peanuts. (That’s Charlie Brown & Snoopy, not the actual legumes.) I *AM* Peppermint Patty incarnate. I hold Snoopy and Woodstock right up there with Disney in my heart.
5. Many years ago, God’s light shone down on the planet and we were gifted with Nat King Cole. He is and always will be the standard that I weigh all the men singers by.
6. I grew up watching “I Love Lucy”. To this day, no one can make me laugh like her.
7. Have I ever told you how much I love John Ritter? He was my male version of Lucille Ball.
8. I’ve always wanted to be an ice skater. Every Winter Olympics I’ve am glued to the TV to watch Figure Skating.
9. I am a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.
10. I’ve been singing since I was 3. Even though my voice is gone now, I am still in my church choir singing with the last four notes I have.
11. I am one of the people that see the numbers 11:11 constantly. We don’t know why.
12. I like being on the edge of a party or an event.
13. I believe in Ghosts.
14. I stink at making a costume, but I sure love wearing them!
15. Do you know that I’ve read THE HOBBIT and LORD OF THE RINGS for the first time 26 years ago? (Age 9) I would run around the house shouting “My Precious!!”
16. My first Cosplay was Tom Baker from Doctor Who.
17. My favorite book is WATERSHIP DOWN, which is where my nicknames “Fiver” and “Hazelrah” come from.
18. I read all of my friends’ posts. Though I’m not able to respond, you are all in my thoughts every day.
19. I grew up in the same community as Adam Walsh. He went missing from a mall that I went to. I am glad that there’s finally closure on the case now.
20. In this house is a picture of me and The Greatest American Hero.
21. Sometimes, I only feel peace when at my grandparents’ house in the country.
22. I thank God for Fandom, as it has given me a big extended family.
23. I’m a very religious person. My faith in God is absolute.
24. After I’m gone, you will need to visit the Bok Tower Gardens in Florida to pay respects.
25. I want to be remembered for having looked Death in the face, and my response to Death being a chuckle. copyright Melissa Petrey Kern
I am grateful that I knew Melissa.
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