Laura Genender Memorial

Laura Genender Memorial

Our good friend Laura Genender has passed away in August 2008, at age 22. She was an incredibly friendly, energetic, warm, fun and wonderful person, and a tremendously positive source of joy in our lives.

Laura's mother Carla Linn has written a book about Laura's life, and also published a collection of Laura's poetry.

Laura was a well-known star in the online gaming world, e.g., see:

  1. Laura Genender Memorial at MMORPG
  2. In Memoriam: Laura "Taera" Genender
  3. In Memoriam: Laura "Taera" Genender of CCP Games
  4. Laura Caroline Genender Obituary

Laura really loved to dance! I taught her Salsa, Argentine Tango, and ballroom dancing, and she learned dancing very quickly. The dance videos below (from November 2005) feature Laura and me dancing Salsa, Tango, Rumba, Waltz, and ChaCha, without any preparation or choreography. Just fun impromptu dancing, with the camera on:

  1. Laura and Gabe dancing Salsa (1 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

  2. Laura and Gabe dancing Salsa (2 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

  3. Laura and Gabe dancing Argentine Tango (and the high-resolution download version)

  4. Laura and Gabe dancing Rumba (1 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

  5. Laura and Gabe dancing Rumba (2 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

  6. Laura and Gabe dancing Waltz (and the high-resolution download version)

  7. Laura, Joelle, and Gabe dancing three-way ChaCha ("kids, don't try this at home!" :) ) (and the high-resolution download version)

The following dance videos were made on the same evening(s) as the clips above, and feature Laura's close friend Joelle Andrews (Laura operated the camera for these videos):

  1. Joelle and Gabe dancing Salsa (and the high-resolution download version)

  2. Joelle and Gabe dancing Argentine Tango (1 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

  3. Joelle and Gabe dancing Argentine Tango (2 of 2) (and the high-resolution download version)

I that hope you enjoy these dance videos as much as Laura did!

Gabriel Robins
robins@cs.virginia.edu

p.s. Another good friend of mine, Randy Pausch, also passed away at a young age. Randy was best-known recently for his inspirational and heart-warming "Last Lecture" which helped many people around the world deal with their own untimely loss of a loved one. I also highly recommend Randy's "Time Management" talk for some great life advice.

Below are various photos that I took of Laura (please click on any of the photos below to see the high-resolution version).