Community Remembering Jack (SalientGorilla)

[Hex]

Hello Everyone.
With a heavy heart, I feel obligated to let this community know that SalientGorilla passed away.
I will only keep brief details due to privacy concerns and I don't want to impede on anyone that is grieving hard.

Salient was a prominent member of our community, who held staff roles and helped EscapeRestart servers and the community flourish. Many of us know Salient, whether it be from discord discussions, or gameservers - and we all knew him as the hard headed, strong willing, guy that didn't give two shits about what anyone else thought of him. He always protruded confidence in himself, even when things weren't going well for him, and for that he is a hero in my eyes.

I feel the best way to handle things is to use this Forum Post as a way to talk and share stories about your time with SalientGorilla, what you enjoyed doing together, what brought you both joy, the times that you spent together making memories is the most important part of life, and we should be celebrating his life - I think its the thing he would want all of us to do.

If you want to share your stories, talk about how he has impacted your life, or anything, feel free to leave it below. I will start with a story myself.

My Story

I staffed under Sal about 2 years ago while he was admin of Create. At the time, I was only a moderator of EscapeRestart with slight ambitions to become more and make changes in ER, and Salient knew this despite me keeping quiet about what I wanted to do.

One day, I was extremely stressed out from Highschool when i was still in that, and things just felt like they weren't going right for me at all. I was fairly close to resigning and leaving EscapeRestart behind, until Sal decided to DM me on discord.

He talked to me for hours,and just about anything that could came up. He encouraged me to stay and work harder, value my goals and believe in them so much that they would have to happen. He took the time out of his day to motivate a very depressed 17 year old me, and despite him not being in the best health and wellbeing - he still didn't mind wasting away his day talking to me about bullshit highschool drama and EscapeRestart.

He encouraged me to work harder and get where I wanted to be, and that leads me to now. I don't think I'd be involved with this community at all if it wasn't for that talk with Sal, and I probably would have moved on from everything and forgot about it. He has and always will be a driving factor for me to push out content for EscapeRestart.

Fly high sal, race those F1 cars and live your dreams.

If anyone is struggling to talk and needs someone to vent too, feel free to talk to me. I have my forums open along with discord. I stand strong with this community and I know how hard a loss is.

​

 

[Velzerat]

Absolutely devastated. He was a great guy. I didn't even consider the possibility because last time I heard, he'd recovered. He deserved much more. I will always remember him and the impact he made on so many people. He will be missed by many

 

[Robo]

I decided to write this poem for Sal just because of the large effect he had over the community and the people in it. It might be a bit cheesy cause I don't have much experience writing many poems, but it's sincere.

You are a friend who brought laughs and delight
When there was darkness you made it so bright
Despite the community, covered in shade
Its ups and its downs, you never have strayed

Your fun British charm, and sharp tethered wit
Then ran for rank Admin and man did you fit
Lifting us up when we would have drowned
You dare not have let us hit the deep ground

Strong-willed and thrilled to be here in this place
Whatever came up you handled with grace
You lit up an ember, you became our dear friend
Time will remember you till its own end

Though were you hurting from sickness and pain
We sustain that your vigor was mountains to grain
Gone now you are, sheer bitter and drain
One thing's for certain, your name will remain

Thank you for everything you did, Jack. You will be missed.

 

[NoteHeart]

*Takes off beanie...*

The full quote by Shigesato Itoi:

“No matter the farewell, I think the most appropriate thing to say is “we”ll meet again.” We are friends so we”ll see each other again. There is nothing strange about saying it.
Yeah. We’ll meet again.

Even if you didn’t have the chance to put into words how sudden it was going to be, how far you’d be traveling, or how you went much earlier than expected, I know you went wearing your best.

You always put yourself second to others no matter what, helping anyone who needed it whenever they needed it. You were that kind of friend. Although you may have been a little selfish for the first time ever by taking this journey.

The truth is though that I still don’t believe any of it. I feel like I am going to receive a message from you inviting me out to eat at any moment. I wouldn’t mind if you were to ask me like always if I had some free time. If you did, I’d ask you as well.

Still, “we’ll meet again.” It would be great to hear from you whenever and wherever; I’ll being calling to you too. I’ll call if I have something to discuss or I want to tell you a great new idea I’ve had.

We’ll meet again.

Then again, you’re here with me now.”

Mahal ka namin (We love you).

 

[Ltin]

Even though he was still technically a faceless person on the internet, it was great being able to talk racing with somebody who was, at least in my mind, more than just a faceless person on the internet. He will be missed.

Forza Sal

 

[sessybessy]

I’m genuinely speechless to say the least right now. I considered Sal a friend, he would listen to my rants and I’d listen to his and we had many ‘inside jokes’ about things. He gave me a foundation on Create like no other staff member did and taught me many lessons on how to build and use commands. Despite being just a person on the internet I felt a true connection to Sal like he could’ve been any one of my real life friends sitting next to me. He will be greatly missed and I hope he is in a better place now, wherever he is

 

[SirComputer]

Many can make a admin, few can make a friend. From my time working alongside him as Create Staff and beyond, he was an incredibly valuable and reliable guy to confide in, and I would certainly agree he kept us all going with his great humour and unfaltering spirit. My full condolences go out to his family at this time.

 

[Friendy]

I’ve known Jack for 10 years and without a doubt the best mate I could’ve ever asked for, it was so hard watching him go but it was for the best. He is at peace now and wherever he is, he knows that everyone cares for him and he’ll be with us all for the rest of our lives.

 

[OgroovysamO]

Jack. The first person I ever really connected with online, to be honest. He got me to download TeamSpeak back in 2013 and chatted to me to get my used to the ropes of it all. I hadn't spoken to him for a couple of years, because life gets busy and all that. Made a couple of vague attempts to meet up with him when I was nearer London, but nothing really came of those unfortunately.

Really sad news to wake up to, and I wish all the best to his family and friends. Rest in peace man.

 

[Love]

Rest easy, Sal.

I have many memories with him on Army of Darkness, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to staff alongside him. He was a very dedicated individual, and an absolute workhorse as part of a team. The Army of Darkness staff team of 2014/2015 would not have been complete without him. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.

 

[gonkus]

Rest in Peace, Sal.

 

[Naterger]

Sal was/is a great guy, an overall 10/10 dude. I'm at a loss of words so I'll leave you with someone elses;

"Indeed, it is sad to send such an immaculate soul into such a dark world. But this is [Gods] will. I only created darkness so souls like this one can transform darkness into light. The whole purpose of creation was that the lowly world be refined by the good deeds of mortal human beings. This cannot be achieved by souls in heaven. It can only be achieved through souls in bodies. And so even this most perfect and pure soul must descend to earth."

In memory of Sal we should all strive to be the best we can, Live life a little extra in his honor & Help bring the joy he gave to us to others.

Rest In Paradise Sal. We will never forget you.

 

[kraby1]

Thanks for the great online memories we shared back in the day man, rest easy.

 

[snowma]

This sucks bad, life can be so cruel and so short.

 

[Naoh]

We’ll miss you Sal... We all will. Your memory will live through us, in our hearts, and on the server. Rest In Peace.

 

[std1997]

Knew Jack ever since I started playing on the servers and he became quickly one of my first best friends and while we did grow apart after a while, I still loved the guy. I wish all the best to his family and loved ones.

 

[OgroovysamO]

I thought I should add an extra post here - back when this sad news I broke, I contacted a player from the old BT days that Sal used to know and was close to. Her name was Suikae and our only contact was through old Tumblr accounts. Little did I know she had actually responded about a year later, and I only just realised today. It seems she has since deactivated her account, and thus I cannot show her how to find this thread, however, I figured it would be right to share her condolences here with everyone elses:


sam-lance-old
Hey there - I have no idea if you use this account anymore but: I'm OgroovysamO from blocktopia. We used to chat back in 2013 but it's been a while! Essentially, I thought you should know that SalientGorilla - Jack - passed away the other day. I don't know how closely connected you guys are these days, but I remember you were once close back in BT days. I h ope you're doing well and everything, despite this sad news.

05/17/2020 6:15 AM
https://insomniacdreamers.tumblr.com/
insomniacdreamers
Hey Sam! I'm really sorry I'm just getting to your message now-- I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and look through my account as of today. My heart is heavy hearing this news- I no longer keep in contact with everyone in BT unfortunately. I do reminisce about my time there. I appreciate you telling me the news, as I don't remember my password to my account nor do I believe the site is up anymore, or under Blocktopia at least, I cannot send my condolences. I hope his family and his friends are all doing well now. I keep him and his memory alive in my heart as I hope everyone in the BT community does as well.