Yesterday afternoon my good friend Tom Mulder lost his long battle with cancer and passed from this life. RIP Tom Mulder.

Tom was an active, and well loved member of both the Hershey and the Harrisburg Camera Clubs. He was an excellent photographer and the kind of person that would do just about anything for anyone who needed help.

I met Tom, three years ago at a Harrisburg Camera Club meeting and we immediately hit it off. Over the next couple of years Tom and I photographed together  several times. We drove together to Wheeling, West Virginia and photographed the Mount Wood Overlook and the Mount Wood Cemetery. On the return trip we stopped in Pittsburgh and photographed the city skyline from the Duquesne Incline observation platform. On another occasion, Tom, myself and another friend, Chip Cain, attempted to photograph in the abandoned Stehli Silk Mill in Lancaster. Once the building’s construction workers found us, we were politely thrown out. We all had a good laugh about that!

The last time I photographed with Tom was in May of this year at the Hershey Gardens. I was tagging along on my wife’s PANA conference.  I asked Tom to come over and photograph through the gardens with me. He was undergoing his cancer treatment at this time and wasn’t as strong as usual but he came along anyway. We had a great day. Afterwards I learned that when he left the gardens he went up in a plane with another friend and did some aerial photography. Tom was never one to pass up a good photo op! RIP Tom Mulder.

Facebook Obituary

Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 PM I saw a post on Tom’s Facebook page that reported that he had died. I was instantly startled, shocked and saddened by reading this post. While I knew, given Tom’s terminal illness that I would someday learn of his passing but I did not have the forethought to imagine that I might learn of it while reading Facebook. I sat back in my chair and for the next hour watched as over 18 of Tom’s friends posted their expressions of condolence and heartfelt sympathies. After giving it some thought I have come the conclusion that a Facebook Obituary is no worse a means of communicating a death than the old fashion Newspaper Obituary. The instant response from friends and family takes some getting used to.

Tom was a good friend. Our friendship was still growing and developing and I will dearly miss his company. I am glad that his suffering is over. Cancer is an insidious, horrible disease and he battled it to the very best of his ability and with all his might. Requiescat in pace Tom Mulder. We will all miss you! RIP Tom Mulder.

10 Images from Silo City | 330 North Wasbash