A small tribute, written for my late friend
Jacob Harper died April 2, 2026. You may not have known the man, a great many things can be spoken of him for he was great. Not common by any sort, not by word, action or verse. The most wonderful thing about him was the way he lived. He loved to dabble, tinker, and craft. Much like a bard, he honored knowledge and wisdom putting his hand to many things. From sculpting to drawing, to his insatiable hunger for reading books. He would get excited to learn bits about anything. Dare you let him tinker, he could craft wood-carved amulet, a shelf, or repair my seventh pair of glasses (within the span of one year.) Like a dog with a bone, he enjoyed the hunt more than the challenge of new things. He certainly had a nose for procurement. Should I need yarn, glue, a certain type of pen … an ornament … he was known to find them. All he asked for was a little bit of time. Shame to think he has no more.
His handle was Boar, but you could never call him boring. Except for one time when we were playing Pathfinder and while he was running a game a player voiced they just wanted a hack and slash (after having four pages of storyline and ten sessions of play at the ready, he responded in kind.) We sat through four hours straight of dialogue using every trick in the DM book to avoid combat like the plague. Though he wasn’t bored. Such as it is. That was just downright mean! I liked to always say, he was organized chaos … he was mess in the sense that his drawer was mess, and he had been known to have his own sort of fun, but he stayed out of trouble.
People can say all sorts of things, but this much is true, he was the greatest of friends. He came to see me so many times in the hole, because he felt like a simple letter would not suffice. And the finesse to come see me once a week … I told you he was crafty. You could even be so bold as to call it art. Masterful, really.
You can’t know a man until you know the workings of his heart. On my honor, he never once stole, told a lie, or broke his world to me. He was kind, caring, and had a bigger heart than he needed. So just a little light on someone who truly brought me joy, as he did for many of you. | RPC