Remembering OpalCat 2026

About This Message Board
1

I’m not sure how many of you were around in the olden days, or remember our dear sister Opal, but I just had a long telephone conversation with ther mom, who is still practicing law in Arizona.

Without going into a lot of detail, I thought I might bring her memory up for those of you who perhaps loved her as many did. As it happens, Katherine’s art is still displayed for sale at

(Can post commercial urls? - it’s been 25 years since I frequented this site – and I would never allow them in GQ . . apologies to the mods if I have strayed from the straight & narrow.)

Opal’s mom is still keeping the home fires burning and is tending to her daughter’s legacy, which includes this niche site. Kathy’s son, who was only 17 years old when she passed in 2013, is always surprised and appreciative when someone wanders in and purchases some tiny part of his mother’s wide-ranging oeuvre.

Thank you for your time and kind thoughts. In this age of enshittification, re-reading the SDMB of the early days, post-AOL, is a massive treasure trove of the way things were when the internet was young, and many people still had manners and ethics, and Uncle Cecil’s universe was still expanding.

Long live Cecil
Long live the Straight Dope!
Nickrz
former GQ mod and charter member

2

Thanks for posting the link; it brought back a lot of memories. I recognize a lot of the paintings as those she posted as works in progress on the Fabulous Forums of Fathom.

3

Thanks.

4

May her memory be for a blessing.

I never met her but we emailed and chatted a lot. Back then, I didn’t think you could really make a friend over the internet (which was silly, since I corresponded with people I’d never met, and considered some of them friends).

Anyway, now I realize OpalCat was the first friend I made online.