| Author |
Topic:
Anna
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timbolton
Title: Assistant CR
FF-UK: North
Registered:
Mar '03
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Date Posted:
5/26 9:34am
Subject:
Anna
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Posting this here and also in the Europe conventions area. Anna was a member of FF Germany. I apologise in advance for this being in English, but I don't want to burden my friend Anne (Kabe_the_chadra-fan from Luxemburg) with translating it for me, she has enough on her plate.
It’s with much sadness that I have to write this, but it’s also very important that it gets said. If this has been posted on your message forum or anywhere else, it’s because some of you either know Anna a little or are a friend of hers. So please take the time to read, and feel free to post a comment below. To make it easier to write, I’ll start with the really difficult bit first, and then hopefully head to more positive things later.
Anna Sarah Kelichhaus, who most of the online Star Wars community (especially Fan Force) would know as “Marani” (or “Marellia”), passed away in her sleep on Wednesday 9th April 2008 after a long battle with cancer. She was in her local hospital, in Goslar in Germany, with her Mum, Grandma and Aunt beside her. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2006.
Anna as some of you know was a huge Star Wars fan, and also a very creative fan. She wrote emotional fan fiction which she shared with the community and was working on fan art too. She loved Mara Jade, her fic and art featured Mara quite a bit, especially Mara’s various relationships with the characters around her. Anna’s illness had meant unfortunately she had given both of fan fic and fan art up temporarily just before she had died, because her vision had become impaired, but there was always the hope it would come back and she’d carry on writing. Anna had also set up a Star Wars Sims big-brother style blog, using mods applied to the game itself. Her blog recorded the Skywalker family getting up to all sorts of antics.
I met Anna for the first time at Celebration Europe after much correspondence via the Fan Force message boards. I was an ex-RSA for the Fan Force United Kingdom and was helping set up a meet and greet for any members from abroad who hadn’t travelled to London before and for people who preferred to have some friendly faces nearby on their day of arrival. Anna contacted me to ask if she could be part of the meet and greet, explained she was travelling alone by coach from Germany. She had previously told me she had cancer. So we arranged to meet at the coach station, since I’d be travelling down around the same time as her. I was a little delayed because of my train, and Anna being who she was decided she head towards where I was arriving, her bags in tow. We somehow ended up meeting in the London Underground, to be honest it was a close call because we hadn’t met before and it wasn’t so easy finding each other in the crowd. But it worked out in the end thankfully. I know she really enjoyed the meet and greet where she met quite a few people who became close friends, and also loved her time at Celebration Europe. She hadn’t been to anything like this before, so I am grateful for kindness and friendship people showed her. She stayed for a week after CE, I decided to change my plans and stay too, so she had some company and help close by.
After Celebration Europe there were varied times for Anna. She was on and off being ill, had many hospital visits. She left her flat which she shared with her boyfriend. Her sight worsened, which unfortunately led to her giving up some of the things she loved the most – writing, communicating with friends via the internet, etc. She moved back with her Grandma and Mother in Goslar, where they could look after her. But there was one thing that kept her focused, something she really aimed to do.
The moment CE was over, she had asked me to come to Jedi Con 2008 in Düsseldorf. We planned it all, and I know there were several times she was down because she was being told that she wouldn’t be well enough to attend, but in the end we did go. I arrived in Germany a day before we had to travel to Düsseldorf, and the next day we travelled by train. It was an exhausting journey for her, and I was worried. But we got there, and then attended the event for some hours, along with good friends Anne and Tom, who I am so grateful for – their support and friendship throughout gave me strength. The first night Anna couldn’t sleep well, her many pills weren’t working the way they usually do. I eventually went through to her room at about 5am to sit with her till she got sleepy. The next day her Mum travelled up and stayed with us, and Anna was eventually taken into hospital in Düsseldorf for checks. The hospital was named after Florence Nightingale. There the doctors said she had water on her lung, and she have to stay in a few days. Anna missed the rest of Jedi Con, though the guests of the show were amazing – they gave her a gift to keep and also did short video clips on my PSP camera, saying hello to Anna and passing on their best wishes. It made her smile, and I am eternally grateful to them for doing that. I know Daniel Logan will be forever on my list of great fan-friendly Star Wars actors for what he did at Jedi Con.
Jedi Con finished, and still Anna wasn’t being allowed out of hospital. I booked more time in the hotel, and visited when Anna felt well enough to see us. Anne stayed too, but by Wednesday Anna was asking me to head back to Goslar to collect my bags since my flight was on Friday. This was the most difficult time, I didn’t want to leave her in Düsseldorf, but I had to go along with her wishes. At that point the doctors were saying she’d be able to leave on Saturday, so there was hope she’d be out, but after I had to return back to England. I travelled back to Goslar, spent a night with Anna’s grandma who couldn’t speak English, nor I German, so we had a fun conversation via dictionary. I travelled back to England on Friday, waiting for news of Anna. It was next week when Anne rang me, and she had to pass on the bad news. Anna had made it back to Goslar on Saturday, where she saw her Gran again, but had fallen ill and taken into hospital, where she died in her sleep.
Anna had so much left to do in this world, so much more to give. She had become like a little sister to me, and she was such a wonderful person, never a bad word spoken. She didn’t have an easy life, but instead of letting that shape her negatively, she still saw the good out there and wanted to do so much. I miss her so much.
I have kept in touch with her family, and will continue to do so. If anyone has photos of Anna that the family would like to see, please let me know (boltontimothy@hotmail.com) since I am gathering a photo album for the family to keep of Anna’s friends and her hobbies. Anne and myself will be going out to Goslar in August of this year to see where Anna is buried and pay our respects, and visit her family. If anyone else wants to do that, you would be welcome to join us.
Thanks for listening, if you have any thing to say yourself, please leave a message below, I know her family would be grateful to hear what people thought of Anna, it’s only in her passing that they are realising what she meant to those outside her immediate family.
Tim
26.05.08 (it’s taken a long time to write this, apologies for that).
-----signature-----
Where have all the meets gone? Good old days are far far away 
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Ceillean
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
5/26 11:40am
Subject:
RE: Anna
- Date Edited:
5/26 11:41am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Ceillean
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I'm so sorry to hear what happened to Anna. I myself didn't know her but still my thoughts and wishes go out to her family and friends.
It's a shame she's been taken so early.
The best of wishes. 
-----signature-----
I'm having trouble dealing with the fact that Kyp Durron is a fictional character 
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ChimealHeltei
Registered:
Feb '01
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Date Posted:
5/26 2:25pm
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I'm sad to read this... I just met her at CE, so didn't know her well enough. But very sad that she had to pass so early in her life! My thoughts and wishes are with her and her family.
-----signature-----
One of the "3 crazy foreign fan forcers"
Hausmann der GSFF - Bügeln, Putzen, Kochen... Alles kein Problem. Maître de Sauce Béchamel
The "Schokolade" of the GSFF's Kinder-Überraschung
¡Soy un cabeza patata!
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MacCaffrey
Title:
•FF GSA & FFC Mod•
•GSFF RSA•
Registered:
Oct '00
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Date Posted:
5/27 12:27pm
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I enjoyed meeting her in at the CE. It is a tragic to die at this age and then by such an disease.
My regards to her family and friends.
Thank you, Tim!
-----signature-----
Rogue 5, four green and ready to go
XO and Medic of Rogue Squadron, Wraith Squadron, Ace Squadron and Red Squadron
aka: "Seine Eloquenz" & "Master of Noep" & "Bote des Abends"
The "Spannung" of the GSFF's Kinder-Überraschung
"Buuuuuuuh", Jedi-Con 08
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timbolton
Title: Assistant CR
FF-UK: North
Registered:
Mar '03
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Date Posted:
6/1 2:56am
Subject:
RE: Anna
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate your thoughts and comments, will pass them on 
-----signature-----
Where have all the meets gone? Good old days are far far away
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Jedi Trace
Title:
• SouthEast RSA
• Fan Fiction Manager
Registered:
Dec '99
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Date Posted:
8/11 3:18am
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I've just now found out about this. Anna was my Fan Fic "padawan" and, from what brief time I knew her, a very sweet girl. Thank you for such a beautiful tribute, Tim, and please pass my condolences on to her family. 
-----signature-----
Captain of the Cade Brigade  “Light, dark – They are just directions. Do not be fooled that you stand on anything other than your own two feet.” ~ Shaak Ti, The Force Unleashed The Society for Girls Who Like Things that Go Boom
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Myriad_Daydreams
Registered:
Jun '07
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Date Posted:
8/11 7:43am
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I knew her briefly from an off-TF.N Star Wars board, and it greatly saddens me to hear of this. She was a strong and creative person, and still had so much more to do. My thoughts are with her family, and wherever she may be I know she is happy. Rest in peace, Anna
-----signature-----
And if the answer is no / Can I change your mind? Bring on the drabbles: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/29099025/p1/?12
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VaderLVR64
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
8/11 3:43pm
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I'm so sorry to hear this.
-----signature-----
If you have to choose between tears and laughter, remember that laughter burns more calories.
Proud New Army Mom - off to bootcamp!
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AniriRevan
Registered:
May '06
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Date Posted:
9/8 11:23am
Subject:
RE: Anna
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I'm so sorry for your loss. I never knew her, but I really appreciated her work. She was much too young to die.
This really made me sad, but I thought it was beautiful that you wrote this for her.
May she rest in peace
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"No good deed goes unpunished!"
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Irish_Jedi_Jade
Registered:
Jul '07
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Date Posted:
9/11 11:00pm
Subject:
RE: Anna
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Oh! Big hugs to Marani's family, and how sad! I only knew her a little from reading her stories...but what a corageous woman!
We will miss you!
 Irish
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Biology homework has me down...the only prescription is plot bunnies and more cowbell!!!
Let the dancing begin!!!!!!!
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