Founder of PhotoImpact Newbies & PhotoImpact Graduates
On the 7th May 2005 the PhotoImpact community as a whole lost a highly respected PI enthusiast and tutorial writer! Deb DeHaven died due to a congenitive heart failure at Greenville Memorial Medical Center. She was just 43 years old. She was a devoted wife to David and a loving home educating mother to two sons, Matthew and David (otherwise known as Davy) and to daughter, Jenna.
Deb, very keen on learning how to use PhotoImpact to create Outlook Express stationery started off as an ordinary member of a now disbanded newsgroup called PI Newbies, but very quickly found herself stuck with it when the original owner of that newsgroup simply disappeared off the scene. She proved herself to be a quick learner and good leader, so on 1st July 2000 with urging from her PI friends Deb created a Yahoo group of the same name. She compiled a list of 50 PhotoImpact tutorials, many of which she had written herself for the members of her group to try. A lot of us 'older' PI enthusiasts can testify to the fact that we learned how to use PI effectively through Deb's tuition.
I personally am very fortunate in that I had the opportunity not only to learn almost everything I know about PI through Deb's tuition but also to have 'worked' along side her as a moderator of PI Newbies, as a co-moderator with her in the 'Help and Discussion Forum' on the PIRC Bulletin Board and then later as a moderator in one of her other Yahoo groups, known as PING (PhotoImpact Newbies Graduates). We chatted with each other constantly through MSN and mIRC and became extremely good friends.
Can you imagine how confusing it was to have two Debs writing tutorials and working together in the various PhotoImpact groups? It obviously was confusing for some because we were often mistaken for one another which prompted Deb and I to create this image and poem which we then displayed on the PIRC Bulletin Board and in the Yahoo groups. Did it help? I think so LOL
Of course Deb had other interests too, she was keen on Jean-Luc Picard and never failed to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation when it was on the television. I could never understand why she enjoyed that programme so much but she did and that's what prompted me to create this image of her when we had an All Stars type of theme going on in the Photo Magic Forum on the board. She laughed when she saw it and was convinced that the Star Trek outfit didn't suit her.
Deb also enjoyed playing various computer games. The Sims being one of her favourites. She used PhotoImpact to create many items that could be used in The Sims and later formulated a group where she could share her creations with others who enjoyed that game too.
Deb died one year ago now and rarely a day that goes past without her name being brought into conversation or thought, not just by me but by the people who knew her, those who didn't know her but who have done one of her many, many tutorials or by those who have downloaded and still use some of the creations she so generously shared with us all. Deb touched and still does touch the lives of many!!!
We have created a
Guestbook Page
with our member's comments.
Deb wrote many excellent tutorials in the 5 years that she used PhotoImpact. She shared them freely with others so they too could learn to do their own computer graphics. Virtually every single person that uses PhotoImpact has come across one of Deb's many tutorials at some time or another. With her death, most of her work disappeared from the internet for various reasons (domain name expired, etc.). This was a great loss to the PhotoImpact community.
In April, 2006, her husband, David, gave his permissioin to have PIRC host her tutorials on the internet. You can find them at:
Thank you, David, for allowing this. Through her tutorials, her memory will live on. Those of us who knew her will smile in rememberance and those who didn't, will get to know her through her work.
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