I got the news yesterday, October 15, that Christopher Witmer (Dontbia Nass) died a day earlier in a bicycle-truck accident near his home in Japan. Chris leaves a wife and seven young daughters, ages 5-21. From the timeline made available to me on Moscow’s Vision 2020, it appears that Chris posted to Prevailing Winds two hours or so before his death.
I couldn’t write this yesterday. I was shaken beyond what you can imagine, and my heart today grieves for his wife and children. I don’t know how they can begin to make sense of his death. As it turns out, I’m down in Tucson where the City of Tucson has dedicated a ballfield to my dad; there’s a jazz concert in his honor Sunday. Even after eight months, the grief of losing my dad is raw and immeasurably painful. I can’t imagine how Witmer’s daughters feel. They didn’t know him as “Dontbia Nass,” or as a homophobic writer, or as a psueodnymical prankster. They knew him as Dad.
My readers know Witmer as Dontbia Nass, whose posts may have driven them crazy. But Chris loved his Savior, and whatever he felt for me doesn’t negate that. I pray that all of you will keep his family in your prayers. I wish I had had a chance to meet Chris, but we didn’t need each other’s validation. I trust that each of us is bound together with God’s Holy Spirit, and I look forward to meeting Chris in Heaven.
Until then, please pray for this man’s family. I’m so sad that he’s gone in such a quick and violent manner, but God, I know, has his plans for the Witmer family. I pray their comfort and their hope is complete in Christ Jesus.
To Mrs. Witmer and family:
Always remember to forget
The things that make you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
Peace in your hour of sorrow.
Comment by Anonymous — October 17, 2009 @ 4:13 am