R.I.P. John Ubdegrove

Death will always be an unknowable mystery to the living: the experience of breathing your last, to think your final thoughts, and to pass irretrievably into the void (or whatever it may be) and leave the rest of the world to its machinations is something we can scarcely comprehend. For those of us who dread it and are in no hurry to experience the end, to make the decision hasten one's own annihilation seems even more alien.

Yesterday at 1:06 PM, John Ubdegrove, a friend I'd made through the horror and props community, commented on my Facebook profile photo. I'd recently changed it to my old photo with Ron Paul in celebration of his 80th birthday, and John was also a Paul fan. "Ron is awesome" he said. It may have been the last thing he ever posted on Facebook. Around 3 AM the following morning, tributes starting appearing on his wall.

I never met John in person, but I've known him for at least a couple of years. He was a nice guy from Nova Scotia and a talented artist. Back in July 2013 I sold my old "Aladdin Sane" part 6 Jason mold to him. He made a few pulls and after some quick painting tips from me he was producing some gems... the depth and detail in his coloring was really excellent, and I was always psyched that he did the sculpt justice.

He was so proud of the comments he got from Tom McLaughlin and C.J. Graham on his lifesize part 6:

John!
You are astonishing, dude!!! Serious. How you put this 'perfect' recreation of born-again Jason together BY YOURSELF just blows me away! You truly got all the details AND my insane vision of mixing the original vengeful Jason, with a reanimated (maggot-headed) corpse carrying a warriors spear, who obtains an arsenal of wearable weapons. A masked walking dead/terminator. I was so fortunate to have an incredible team of creative artists to who I owe so much thanks. But I gotta tell ya, after all these years since we brought him back to life, to see someone like you putting in SO much time and work to make this version of Jason into a classic horror movie museum piece makes me pretty damn happy. You the man, and I'm your fan. Thanks for the thrill of seeing JASON LIVE again. -Tom McLoughlin"

 Also some comments from the man himself CJ whom played this iconic role
" Hi Bud, if you ever want to sell it, let me know. Thanks. "

Very proud moments in this project. The fact that man that played the iconic role of "JASON" wpould be interested in displaying my work in his home blew me away and remains a high point in my prop making . Special thanks to CJ as he gave me the complete direction of the movie used costume. Thanks again !! And special Thanks to Jason Farrell for the Amazing Sculting work. Jason lives on ! [Taken from his Yourprops account, Chubbz187].

And amazingly, now he's gone. He posted a few days ago that he's been dealing with schizophrenia resulting from a car accident a couple of years ago. I just talked to him a few days back too. He just finished his life-size Arnold replica on Tuesday. I know John loved his chihuahuas and his family. He loved travel and movies and was interested in politics. John was a cool guy. And he'll be missed.

R.I.P. bud.