MICHAEL WOODWARD MACON 1968-2001 Some people come into our lives & quickly go Some people move our souls to dance They awaken us to understanding The passing whisper of their wisdom Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon They stay in our lives for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, & we are never, ever the same. _________________ On March 15, Mike's battle with cancer and respiratory failure ended peacefully. On behalf of Mike's family, we wish to thank you all for your prayers, support and e-mails of inspirational words and encouragement. Mike Macon was a close friend to all of us and we will miss him dearly. He will always be in our hearts and we will cherish the experiences we shared with him. The contributions that Mike made to our band cannot be adequately described in words. One of Soup's founding members, and original accordion player, Mike can be heard on both "Laughing at the Fables" and as a very special guest on "Breakdown". Mike played with the band from its inception until 1996 when he decided to leave in order to marry the love of his life, Amy, and the two moved to Portland, Oregon, where he pursued a career as a professor. Mike's accordion style defined Soup's distinct sound from the band's inception. His influence still exists in our music today. More importantly Mike's friendship and attitude toward life always reminded us of why we loved to play music - simply to have fun. Whether we were playing an open mic night at a small coffeehouse in Buckhead in front of 10 people, or if we were crammed in a small hotel room in South Georgia fighting over who had to sleep on the floor, his presence forced us all to make the best of any situation and of course to have a good time. Our hearts go out to his wife Amy and to all of his family and friends. Our memories of Mike will live on whenever we listen to or play the songs we created together. The Mike Macon Memorial Fund has been established at Oregon Graduate Institute for support of students working in Mike's area of research. Mike was an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department at OGI, where he taught digital signal processing and performed research on speech synthesis techniques. In lieu of flowers, contributions will be accepted for Mike's fund or for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.