R.I.P., Hauzy

Over the years, it’s sad to say that I’ve gotten used to writing tributes to those who have touched my life in some way, then passed on, leaving behind those who remember, and miss, and mourn. Usually it is someone known to me only through grainy images in black & white film, or in the dusty, yellowed pages of a beloved magazine. Occasionally it is someone that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting face-to-face, a few moments of connection at a Convention or two. Perhaps it might even have been a friend of a friend, someone whose loss is more keenly felt because of the pain it causes someone about whom I care. Joseph Lincoln Hauze was none of these—Joe “Hauzy” Hauze was my friend, and his absence will hurt, deeply.


To those who frequent the world of the Yahoo Horror groups, Hauzy was a well-known and welcome fellow traveler. A devoted fan of Horror Films, he loved the Japanese Kaijû, and the movies of Troma. He was in many of the same groups as I, and he could always be counted upon to take an active role in discussing the movies that he enjoyed so much.

It seemed everyone knew Hauzy—and everyone who knew him, liked him. He loved to have impromptu trivia challenges in the groups, and whoever won (and often, everyone that played along) would soon get a box from “Santa Hauzy” containing some goodies—usually DVD’s, but you were never quite sure what would arrive. Sometimes, he’d just decide that he had too much stuff, and a random friend would find a surprise package in their mail soon after.

Recently, Hauzy was doing something else he loved—riding his motorcycle near his Pennsylvania home—when he was involved in an accident. Though he initially made it through surgery, complications arose, and on Monday, 21 June 2010, our friend and fellow monster-fan passed away.

As the news of his death began to spread through the groups that Hauzy was so much a part of, feelings of shock and disbelief quickly changed to grief and remembrance. In the message traffic of virtually every group of which I’m a member, one subject line seemed to dominate—“R.I.P., Hauzy.” How one individual, known personally to very few of us, could have such a huge impact across such a diverse spectrum of his fellow fans, is amazing—and more than a little thought-provoking.

All of us have gotten used to the concept of “friend” as someone you don’t really know, not a close friend in the traditional sense of the word, just someone who’s in your sphere of interest. Ted or Janet may be your “friends” simply because they asked to be, and you clicked the “Confirm” button.

But events such as these remind us of what true friendship is, and that, on the other end of that internet connection is a real person, one with whom we share a common bond—even if it is of such inconsequential matters as a love of monster movies. That real person leaves behind a family that mourns and grieves for him now, a family whose lives are irrevocably altered by his loss. As we, Hauzy’s on-line friends, remember his life and mourns its end, let us not forget those who feel this loss so much more deeply and personally.

So long, Hauzy… and wherever you are, something tells me there’s a Godzilla movie playing.