From Chris Chepken

I'm not writing on this thread late because I had not seen it but because I have been in denial for a while. "That is what Edwin and I are paid to do". These are the words that Gary Marsden said to me around two years ago when I was in the plateau of doing my PhD (These are the days I was hating myself for deciding to do PhD). I had been stuck for over two weeks about making a Computer Science contribution in a purely ICT4D research and Gary, by just saying these words, propelled my work till the end of my PhD. Every time I felt there was a problem, I repeated the words "That is what Edwin and I are paid to do". That is Gary for me. He started and finished my supervision in style. He made me feel at home too. It is not only PhD and academic knowledge that I acquired from Gary. He thought me how to be humble and gentle on people. He thought me how to how very playful kids are a beauty of parenting! (believe it or not). I recall the day he invited us for a braai in his home and the his kids were playful. After several chats (about movies, racing etc etc ) with various people, he reached me and asked "Chris, you have kids right? how old?". My answer was yes. His response changed the way I look at kids today. He explained to me that the beauty of parenting is to have playful kids and being there for them. To Gill and Holly & Jake, your husband and father respectively, loved you. I got that from his many mentions about you and many of his encouraging messages. He kept telling me that he knew how hard it was for me to leave my young family back home! This always indicated to me how much he valued his own. He knew the beauty of being good parents, and he shared it with me and I'm practicing it thousands of miles away. I know Gary, through the angels from the almighty God is practicing the same where he is.