Robert Luebbers and U-High Lives

My mother's high school, U-High, no longer exists. The students who formerly attended it, however, seem to have a strong sense of community. As I mentioned in my post of yesterday, 11/4/2007, the school has a web site at uhighlives.org. I visited the website after my aunt Janet gave me the web address, and I was immediately welcomed by the webmaster (called a "web shepherd," Robert Luebbers, who promptly signed me up and gave me access to the website.

When I logged in, I was allowed to comment on my mother's obituary notice, and to call the community's attention to this blog.

Today, I saw that the main page of the website contained a prominently-placed note about my mother, and about this website. "The story of Linda Oldham and her eldest son, Jake, is one of the reasons that this web site was created. We are here to tell our stories," proclaims the notice, signed by the Web Shepherd (Luebbers).

As if that were not overwhelming enough, I received an email later this evening from my aunt Janet; It seems that Mr. Luebbers had already sent out the word about my mother's death to a few U-High alumni, with a request to circulate it further. I choose to construe this as permission to publish an excerpt from the email:

The U-High Lives Web Board extends condolences to all of you. We have posted Linda's obit on the web site and featured a news article and a special forum. We have done this because of an incredible event. Linda's oldest son, Jake Lester (AKA Osama) never knew his mother's early years until I invited him to our site. He immediately registered and is pouring over every digital copy of the Tiger Claws to learn more about his mother. He has posted a very professional blog to celebrate the life of his mother and wants all of you to post your memories and comments to his blog. Please keep the families of Linda, Janet, and Carla in your thoughts and prayers.

Please, please ... all of you ... take time to log on to the U-High web site at www.uhighlives.org and read this incredible story in the "In memory of ..." Forum and the obit section under Comments to learn about Jake's journey to discover his mother's early years at Lab School and U-High.

Thank you, Robert Luebbers, and all members of this wonderful online community.

P.S.: I am sorry to say that the website is very exclusive. You cannot even tell that there is content unless you join, and membership is invitation only. Oh, well.