Stephen Tomaske

[Michel Ryckx]

An April 5th, I have been contacted by John Tomaske, father of Steve
Tomaske.  He asked me to put a sad message to the list.

--begin of message

Stephen M. Tomaske

Stephen Michael Tomaske was born in Pullman, Washington on January 21,
1956.  He passed away on March 31, 2002 in
Alhambra California of cancer. Stephen Tomaske was the son of John
Tomaske and Lorna (Hawkins) Miller.

Stephen Tomaske graduated from Schurr High School in Montebello,
California in 1974.  He attended The University of
California, Irvine and California State University, Los Angeles.
Stephen Tomaske was employed as a staff member of the John
F. Kennedy Library, California State University, Los Angeles.  He was a
recognized scholar specializing in the life and works
of the contemporary American author, Thomas Pynchon.

Survivors include his grandmother, Bernice Tomaske of Prosser,
Washington, father,  John Tomaske of Sunland California,
mother, Lorna Miller of Rosemead California, a brother, Gordon Tomaske
of  San Gabriel, California, a nephew, Jonathan
Tomaske and a niece Madeline Tomaske.

A memorial service and celebration of Stephen Tomaske’s life will be
held in the main conference room of the John F.
Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University, Los Angeles on
Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 2:00 PM.  In
accordance with his wishes, dress is casual.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that:donations in Steve’s memory be
made to:

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
Phone: (310) 791-5214 Fax: (310) 791-5224
P.O. Box 1010, Torrance, CA 90505 Information at pancan.org

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/eprise/main/docroot/DON/don_0

-- end mr. Tomaske's message

Allow me to add some personal memories.

Steve, a former member of this list (he still consulted the archives
quit regularly) and I got in touch through the mediation of John Krafft.
Since a while now, I've been working on a Thomas Pynchon  web site.
Part of it will be a biographical overview.  It is with this part Steve
helped me out: he corrected the data, gave explanations, pointed me to
books and articles that were hard to find, he even suggested a more
careful word choice.  In short: he encouraged me very much.  He was very
generous in sharing his knowledge, for which I will be ever very
grateful. (Steve was, if I remember well, the first to point out that
the year 1969 in the David Seed letter may be a typographical error).

While helping me, I noticed some remarkable things: he was very careful
in not disturbing the privacy of mr. Pynchon and his family; and he did
not want to take any credit for his efforts.  Last time we were
exchanging posts, we were planning to meet each other.  He added 'if I
can make it'.  He did not mention he was already ill at the time.

Steve's father wants to know more about Steve's life as a researcher.
If a fellow list member has ever been in touch (professionally or not)
with Steve, please contact me off list.

Life can be unrightfully hard.

Michel.