Reading comments left by shocked people on Facebook it is clear that many of us encountered Stef all too briefly but, oh, what an impression he madeon us.
In my case it was as casual workers at CCC (now Go Outdoors) in Sheffield where I worked part time between 2000 and 2002. Quite simply, Stef had the most remarkable presence of anyone I've ever met; not just wit, humour but genuine charisma which few people have. And all packed into this small, stocky Geordie lad.
He was someone you wanted to be around, because in his presence you came alive. And he was always wanting to learn, explore ideas, and my strongest memories of Stef are of us in the canteen, talking ten to the dozen during our 15 minute break (we both had Irish roots so would speak fast when excited) about anything from 'the real meaning of Jesus' to extra-sensory perception.
And this brings me to my final point. In the all too brief time in which I got to know something of the remarkable phenomenon that was Stef, I realised he had some incredible gifts. One of the most powerful moments in my life was an evening in the Porter Cottage when he explained some of it to me. Put simply, he perceived the world much more sensitively than most of us can, more acutely... more fully. There were times when he literally knew what I was going to say or do next. And people could instinctively sense this about him, and that was the reason for his presence, his charisma.
Like many others, I lost touch, but always yearning to take that conversation at the Porter Cottage further, find out what was behind this gift of his. And then he sprung up on Facebook and in the past couple of years, in dark times, brightened the world with a luminous intensity with his incredible wildlife photos. There it was, the most visible manifestation of his gift that I could imagine, the ability to sense the world around us, from the tiniest bird to big red deer, and reveal it to us as something quite magical.
Then he went quiet, and I sensed something was wrong and reached out to him, but no reply. How many of us, some like me who knew him all too briefly and desperately wish we could have spent more time with him, broke down and cried when we realised he had left us. And are holding back the tears now as we recall the memories.
But how fortunate we were to have spent even the briefest of time on earth with this most gifted, yet sensitive of men. That's the thought I hold on to and which consoles me. His was a flame that burned so bright that its strength was too great for this, physical, world. But it burns on in those of us fortunate to have known him as fellow climbers, snowboarders, workers and friends. That bright light is how we will remember Stef and what he brought to a troubled world. xx
Tim Cooper
28th July 2022