Hi All,

I spoke with Ken Piper (Tom's son) today. The woman that I spoke to at the mortuary got a message to him to call me. So he did.

I told Ken of the friends in the Visual FoxPro community that his father had all over the world and how saddened we all were to hear of Tom's untimely death.

I told Ken that this year's DevCon keynote was dedicated to his father and that our deepest sympathies go out to him and his family. I also mentioned that more than one person from our community expressed interest in attending Tom's services.

Ken seemed pleased that his father had made such a lasting impression on so many. He asked me to thank all those in the Visual FoxPro community for the sentiment and concern that we have expressed.

In regards to services...

There are 2 reasons why there will be no immediate funeral service:

1) Tom had planned to host a tail-gate party at Stanford -Palo Alto, CA (where he received his MBA) for some game on Oct 13. Since Tom planned to be with his friends on that day, Ken thought it might be nice to have a service/party there and then.

Ken said he'd call me regarding those plans in plenty of time to arrange for travel (for you who might be interested in coming from out of town to attend).

2) Tom had purchased a life insurance policy specifically allocated (according to Ken) for the purpose of paying for a party thrown in Tom's honor on the event of his demise. -What a guy!

Ken said that due to financial reasons, he's going to have to wait until the check from the insurance company arrives to throw a proper party in Tom's honor.

As soon as I know more, I'll get it out to the community.

I have no idea where or how, but it might be nice to assemble all of the nice comments and rememberances expressed on the UT along with all the photos we can find of Tom to share with his family when we finally get to attend a proper send off for Tom. -Just a thought.

Hugh