Tyler and I were good friends. I think about him every day, and how much I miss him. I, like some others, knew him by his online name, David. That is how I like to remember him, so that's what I'll call him while I share this memory. 

David was a talented, bright young man and a good friend. I can't count the laughs we've shared escaping our realities together through video games. Our community mourned his loss, and still does every single day. 

I think to all the points in my life I shared with David. My first job, graduating high school, getting married and joining the military and moving to Alaska. I loved to share my life with the people I loved most. I am still mourning the things that David missed out on in my life. The birth of my first child, getting out of the military and moving home. Maybe that's selfish of me. But I really miss my friend. I miss hearing his snark but never belittling comedic timing. I miss his strong opinions, and his laugh. I miss my friend.

David's loss will always be with me. I will never stop mourning him. I will never forget what he meant to me and all of our friends. I still frequently watch his gaming videos on youtube. It's soothing to hear him laughing at our ridiculous escapades. I wonder how many more we could have had. 

I miss my friend.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, I know that I met John exactly at 3:21am on August 19th last year, and from the first few rounds of a video game I knew I met a lifelong friend. Something about how we easily got along made it feel like I had known him for a long, long time. John very quickly became one of my best friends, and I had been playing Counter-Strike with him every day without fail the entire year. I don't tend to talk about my personal life with even my closest friends but for some reason I felt like I could with John, and thus we very habitually would log onto our video game, talk about what's bothering us  in life, in our individual friends' groups, school and workplace, et cetera until long into the morning hours; rinse repeat every day. There's been a long standing joke between us that we're the same person in a simulation because of how similar our personal lives are, from life events, to opinions, right down to sharing a birthday. I can't say I've ever met someone so genuinely wholesome that genuinely meant well by others and I almost certainly know that I never again will. Even months later I'm still sending him discord messages hoping in some superstitious spiritual way he can read what I'm telling him. I love you dearly, John, thank you for the barrage of laughter and changing my life.

Tyler was my son.  He did not live with me but I still got him as often as possible to come stay at my house for the weekend or a Holiday or when we went to the beach for a week every summer.  When Tyler really got into video games he took 1000.00 and bought a special gaming computer he hated being away from.  When I would call him for our weekends he would get super angry he'd have to leave it to come to my house.  His grandparents' house where he lived had a long driveway that went up a steep hill.  On those occasions he would be angry for having to come over he would get in the car with his arms crossed over his chest and his lips tightly pursed together and he wouldn't speak to me. By the time we got to the end of the driveway, I would at least have gotten him to smile, and by the 15 minute trip home was over, he sold be laughing and talking up a storm.  That was Tyler.   Easy to love, easy to forgive and happy when he was surrounded by his family here.  He was the child every parent dreams of:  never drank, never did anything illegal, made straight A's, and no crazy girlfriends.  I hate that as he ages we grew apart, but I always thought I would have time to pull him back to me.  He was a light in my life that shone brightest when things were rough, and I will miss that light forever.  One last story about him that will show his intelligence and sense of humor:  one of those times he came to spend the weekend, he was getting in the shower and I said to him"tyler, the bottle with the purple cap is the shampoo, and the one with the clear cap is the conditioner...now, can you remember that?" He said, "yes, mom, I can remember that, but if I forget, I can always read the bottle". We laughed hard about that one for years...Goodbye my beautiful, intelligent, hilarious son...the world is a little dimmer without you bright light shining.

My name is Ian McReynolds. I met Tyler through a couple friends on our computers one time and for the next five years we played an endless amount of games together. Back then he went by the name David Ralphsky and we all legitimately believed his name was David and lived in Canada. At one point around 2-3 years ago we had all gotten to know each other pretty well past our fake names and we were all a family from then on. He and I never 100% saw eye to eye and I remember him saying that is why he liked me. He was always one to have fun and games but never shied away from a serious debate about politics or the economy. He and I have stayed up countless nights talking about things from some stupid funny moments in games all the way to a 3 hour conversation on nuclear energy. He talked with me through break ups and bad grades, good times and movie nights, and backed me up whenever it was needed. 

Aside from me, I want it to be known he definitely built up and brought our little group closer, taking charge after our last leader joined the military and didn't have as much time.  He made it possible for our group to grow from 4 people to 25 at its peak and we were, as I'm sure y'all knew, always playing games, debating, and watching movies together for hours and days on end, all the while constantly playing that acoustic guitar in the background. 
He was like family to us and I strongly believe we were like family to him, and as such his passing broke our hearts and nothing will ever be the same here. 

I don't know if anyone else from the group has posted here but I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say I am deeply sorry for your loss. He will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten in our group. 

We never really had any pictures but I did have a couple goofy ones either of himself or of us together.

My name is Shayon Ghoshroy, and I am an old friend of Tyler's. I first met him in middle school, and throughout our schooling, we would talk all the time on the bus, at lunch, and in class. But what really made us friends was our shared love of computers.  Tyler and I  would regularly talk and play video games together late into the night.

I remember one time, I tried to get him to come outside with me and my friend Hartland. Hartland and I wanted to get some exercise at the park, but Tyler did not want to go so he wouldn't tell me his address. I had to bike around his street in order to find him and eventually bring him outside, and it was hilarious. 

 Tyler was also one of the reasons I chose to study Computer Science. His talent and love for it inspired me, and I was excited to see where he would end up after his studies. Tyler loved making things and playing games more than anything, and he showed me the basics for programming. Although he did not have many close friends in real life, he had lots of online friends. I really believe that they were like family to him and that the friends he made while playing video games became that way because he would talk to them every day for years. 

I am so sorry for your loss. Please know that my heart goes out to you in your time of sorrow. Tyler was a big part of my childhood. He was funny, smart, passionate, and most importantly, he will always have been my good friend.

Tyler was not one for taking pictures, but here is one of the time I finally got him to go outside! 

Rest in peace old friend.

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

John Tyler Williams

5 juillet 2000 – 25 mars 2019

Elmwood Funeral Home, Cremation Service and Cemetery

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