Those of us who are Facebook friends with the man who is the poster known as Abin Quank (foremost among many other alternate I.D.s) have learned that he has passed away today. The causes are unknown, though it has been suggested he's been sick for a while. His real name is Charles Tabor, and he was a tremendous creative personality on these boards who will be greatly missed. Many members here have collaborated with him heavily here, and many have had the privilege of meeting him in person.

When we find his official obituary, we will post a link to it in this thread. In the meantime, please send your thoughts and prayers out to his family, who must surely be experiencing terrible grief right now.

Rest in peace, friend.

Although I never met Charles I have enjoyed his posts on here over the years.
I feel a sense of loss for my Legion friend .... may God keep you by his side.
Rest in peace.

Another sad loss for Legion World. Charles was gentleman. Always thoughtful.

I''m so sorry to read this. Rest in peace, Charles.

I treasure the time I met Chuck in person at SDCC in 2008.

Another Legionnaire is in Shanghalla.

Oh son of a-!

I'm friends with him on facebook and I had no idea. Ugh.

At least he's with Pagan Lass now.

I'm glad I got to meet him. What a sweet guy. Full of great stories, too.

Abin was an amazing creative genius and a wonderful guy. I want to reread his stories now, they always bring on a well of emotions.

Very sad news, I didn't know he was unwell. He was so upbeat and energetic.

His LW postings were winding down as mine were ramping up, but I met Chuck at ComicCon and he was cool, funny and one of the nicest guys you could meet. It's sad news.

Chuck was remarkable in so many ways. He was passionate, he was kind, he was very much his own person, he was always insightful, and he had a great sense of humor. At the moment, what's really standing out in my mind is the way that he didn't mince words about his dislikes, yet he was never disrespectful to those who disagreed with him -- a real lesson to be learned there.



Along similar lines, I plan, over the course of this weekend, to bump up all my favorite posts of his.

A picture of Abin and me at San Diego.

I dunno'. Maybe the facial hair wasn't really working for either of you. No offense.

I told you guys you need *garden* lime, not the fruit!

Rest in peace, Abin.

This is another real blow to the LMB community. When I heard the new yesterday it really felt like a punch in the gut. Chuck has been a close friend for 15 years and one of funniest, enjoyable and all around most fun people to interact with that I've known.

On a personal level, Chuck was one of about 4 or 5 posters whom I met the first night I registered on Legion World in September 2003 after about a year absence away from the LMB. We became fast friends and it was clear our senses of humor got along brilliantly. From there I have so many incredible memories of the two of us being frequent story-telling collaborators, from the totally insane Never-Ending Tag Thread all the way up to the present. It was actually very early on that we became personal friends when he PMed me after I killed off two of his characters he spent a lot of time working on to sternly but lovingly explain to a 22 year old Cobie how to be batshit crazy yet respectful to other people’s ideas. I listened and we never stopped collaborating. When we last spoke he actually had given me an overview of the next several years worth of stories for his various Alt IDs. I’m going to share that in coming months so his can plans can be revealed and become part of LMB lore, which he worked so hard to create. (Sadly, I have a lot of Dev-Em’s last wishes for his characters too that I’ve never really revealed).

I'm so glad I was able to meet him a bunch of times. I remember when he and Cali picked me up from the San Diego airport and she was already laughing at the last 10 things he said. The ride only got funnier from there.

When Pagan Lass died it was the same day that my son was born. Exhausted after being awake for over a day, I reached out to him—in tears—and of course he told me the most important thing I could do was be happy and just enjoy the moment with my son, because that is what Alice would have wanted. Because of course he did. Because he was Chuck and he was the best.

From the many posts on FB by his friends and family, including many of us, it is clear that Chuck was widely loved. Everyone can't hepl but mention his sense of humor. As I’ve mentioned, he was one of the few LMBers whose personality in real life was even more over the top than on the Board!

RIP Abin, Space Ranger, Stoopid Cat, EDG, My, and so many others. RIP Chuck Tabor.

And just because…

Truth and Justice Prevail!

(I’ll miss you, pal)

Wow ... RIP Abin - thank you for the humor and creativity you brought to LW

Condolences to Charles' family and all of his friends here at Legion World and beyond.

Chuck was a guy who I had a complex relationship with. He's someone I always wanted to get to know better, but it always felt like we were at a disadvantage because I missed most of those first approximately 2 years of Legion due to computer issues and life events. So when I returned full-on, I had already missed, like, 500 roleplay events and an incalculable amount of world-building. So I came in pretty hot and ready to re-establish Lardy and had this tremendous agenda as to where his story was going and how that would affect Legion World.

At various points, this brought me into some somewhat tense interactions with Chuck. They were never less than civil, but it was pretty clear we were at cross-purposes at times. ( I mean the "Zardi" stuff alone....! ) My feathers would get a little ruffled when, in the midst of a roleplay, he'd send me messages telling me, "now, do this" or "that". And, more than once, the PMs would simply end with no response from him. (Back then, PMs could not proceed without a reply from whomever you were conversing.) In hindsight I think Chuck and I were just too much alike in our passion to tell the stories we wanted to tell. He may have seen it differently--I don't know.

But god, do I admire the "Quank family" of characters he created! I think his "Abin-verse" was the most intriguing and best set of characters among all the families that any of us have attempted by far. Some of us may have more developed mythologies, but Chuck had a set of characters that were ingrained in every facet of the fictional Legion World community. You go here, there's a Chuck character that fits right in, you go there, there's another great Chuck character, etc., etc. I could never begin to approach that level of skill with my "Lardy" set of characters. Lardy is clearly my best character by a mile, but Abin may have been Chuck's fifth or sixth best character! That, my friend, is skill!

In more recent years, I think Chuck and I learned how to relax control and just collaborate with others. I've learned that shared stories are always better if you actually share. And Chuck, I saw how he was letting other people tell very detailed and defining stories with his characters. Though I'm sure he had plenty of input, I can't help but think about how My Whee Fem was such a huge star in Exnihil's great unfinished "Long Klordy" epic. I probably would have made up a character to fill that role, but Ex used her brilliantly and elevated her tremendously among the Quank family of characters in my eyes. I think instances like this really showed Chuck's willingness to let go as I did.

Chuck's contribution to the rich LW mythos is just priceless. And from what I hear, this pales in comparison to meeting the person behind the myth. I will always be grateful for how he helped shape this community in a very huge, meaningful way and for all the great characters I've come to love. I will always regret that I never got to know the man behind the myth a lot better. I am all the poorer for it.

Rest in peace, Chuck.

As an addendum, I felt I should mention something I just wrote about in the Writer's Discussion Thread over on Bits, since not everyone who reads this will read that. Wednesday night, I was hit by a huge wave of inspiration about a long-simmering LMB story I'd been thinking about writing. It was so powerful that I had trouble sleeping that night. So I wake up, wondering if I should start writing the thing, when I learn of Chuck's passing. Right then and there, I knew I had to start writing and posting the story.

I'm not much of a believer in religion or the supernatural, but I can't help but wonder if the inspiration somehow came from Chuck in his dying hours. The timing sure seems weird.

Anyhow, I thought I would share.

I'm glad that I had the pleasure to meet and get to know Chuck in person. He will be missed.

^What The Boss said. Having dinner with the crew that met up in Boston back in '05 was a blast, in no small part because of Chuck.

And Lardy, that's awesome.

Tribute and service details posted on:

http://www.buckler-johnston.com/tributes/Charles-Tabor

Charles George Tabor, 63 of Westerly, passed away on Thursday, July 27, 2017 at William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. He was the husband of the late Alice (Ford) Tabor and together they had shared 35 years of marriage. Born in Lackawanna, NY on December 19, 1953, he was the son of Dolores (Kingsland) Tabor and the late Francis Anthony Tabor.

Charles dedicated his life to the military and proudly served in the U.S. Navy in a wide range of positions for over 20 years retiring as a Chief Petty Officer. He often worked multiple jobs to support his family and make sure to take care of those he loved. This included over 10 years at Electric Boat. In his free time, he enjoyed being a youth coach of various sports and announced at Pee-Wee football games in Westerly. He could easily be called a comic book connoisseur, collecting and reading all sorts of comics. Most importantly, he loved his family and will be dearly missed by all those who knew him.

Besides his mom, he will be sadly missed by his children Walter L. Ford and wife Silena of S.C, Steven K.R. Bariteau of Groton, CT, Jamie T. Bariteau of Westerly, RI, Charles M. Tabor and his wife Mary of Ashaway, RI and David J. Tabor of Westerly, RI. She was the loving grandfather of Jesse, Brittany, Brandon, Brett, Brigitte, Evan, Camden, Bethany and the great-grandfather of three. He also leaves his siblings Frank Tabor, Michael Tabor and his wife Tracy, Shelia Tabor and Maryann Makowski along with several nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be held on Monday July 31, 2017 from 6:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. at Buckler- Johnston Funeral Home, 121 Main Street, Westerly, RI 02891. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 11am at the funeral home. Burial will follow immediately after the service at First Hopkinton Cemetery.

For online condolences, please visit www.buckler-johnston.com

Rob sent me a Facebook message and I just found it. I didn't have a lot of interaction with Chuck but every time he posted it was something unique to him. His history here has made this a better place and he will be missed. With any group this size we will lose longtime members, but it still hurts our family to have it happen.

Rest in Peace, Abin. You are missed.

Very sad to hear about Chuck's passing... like several others, I was fortunate to meet him at Comic Con... When Quis introduced me to him, Chuck looked at my back and deadpanned, "Where's the fin?"... RIP Chuck... LW will sorely miss you...

DC comics won't have to guard their tables now.

For those that don't know. Back in 2005? a bunch of use were at Wizard World Boston. At the convention, we had staked out a table in the gaming area to meet up at. Chuck came up and said something to the effect, look at what I got at the DC table. It was the mock-ups of upcoming issues. Chuck thought they were freebie give aways. We told him what they were. Chuck returned them, but came back with others (with DC's permission) We teased Chuck about it, but he teased us right back.

I plan on going to the visiting hours tomorrow. Flowers were sent from Legion World

That is STILL one of my favorite convention stories... Love ya, Chuck! Glad you're going for the visitation.

Thanks.

You know, I completely forgot Abin and I picked Cobie up! What I remember from that 2008 Comic-Con was Abin picking me up in a fireman's hold and walking two blocks like that just to prove to me that he could. Or something. I was probably being a butthead the way young twenty-somethings are.

He was a fun guy, really hilarious and comfortable in his skin. I admired that. He will be greatly missed.

As I haven’t been here in awhile I only just now found out about this, R.I.P. good sir it was an honor to know you!

Just thinking about Mr. Quank on his birthday.

I think it’s a time for a reread of some of his stories.