Sorcerer Heidi

[samsteele]

We learned today that @SorcererHeidi died suddenly at her home in Ocean County, NJ on January 24, 2023.

Heidi was a member of the Boards for 16 years and a frequent if not daily poster. She loved the DIS, was a proud and loyal DIS'r, and loved all things Disney.

She made many lifelong friends here on the Boards and her legacy lives on through her many friendships across America and the world. Heidi was a loyal and fierce booster of the DIS Team and the DIS Unplugged show. She was particularly protective and supportive of Ryno, Craig, Teresa and Kathy. She loved their work ethic, their contributions, content and their fun and creative vibe.

Heidi was loved by many and her presence and contributions will be greatly missed. Over the past years, her health issues limited her ability to travel to her beloved Magic Kingdom. But she never tired of supporting and helping others with their trip planning and Disney dreams.

A more detailed post about Heidi is now on the In Memoriam subforum and a link to her obituary has been provided there. I encourage you to read that post. Heidi was a Navy veteran, served her neighbours and community in New Jersey with her local police force and even in retirement cared for her neighbours by donating her time and experience to her local neighbourhood watch.

If Heidi touched your life here on the Boards or helped you in any way over the years, please remember her the next time you are in the Magic Kingdom. She would ask her DIS friends to pause and think of her at the Partners Statue and at the Cinderella Castle Mosaic Mural. She asked me many times to touch Cinderella's slipper and think of her whenever I visited the Magic Kingdom because she physically couldn't be there and experience her favourite park. Heidi didn't have an easy life. Nothing was given to her. But she fought to live well and true. She worked hard and served others. She made a good life for herself. She was a blessing to those she touched. Heidi will be missed and remembered.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I am gutted to hear this. I loved Heidi and on our trip this May I thought about her because she had not been to WDW in sometime. I was thinking how I wanted to report to her how magical it was and just hadn’t reached out yet.

She was a perfect example of how to be friends with people with different ideas. While she was a stanch defender of the team, I tend to be more critical of them. We basically disagreed on everything and yet we were very friendly with each other and shared PMs over the years. That was not me, it was her light and generosity that bridged the gap.

I will need to look and read what/when her last message to me was.

My God life is too brief.

 

[OKW Lover]

So sad to hear about this. Thank you for posting it here.

 

[Tonyz]

Oh my god that is so sad, Heidi was the best. So sweet and kind. She even collaborated with me on a project I was working on outside of this forum. Jesus...

 

[superme80]

This is heartbreaking. She was such an amazing soul. May she rest in peace.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Heidi I don’t know if you’re reading this but hopefully you were at peace. You were just so kind and special and always remembered my birthday or any special events for anyone here.

Here’s to a good heart and soul and overall good person. Hopefully more people will at least post something nice about you since you always did it for everyone else.

Love you Heidi and you’re in the best theme park now that never closes!

 

[lucas]

I am so sorry to hear the news...

 

[WebmasterJackie]

Oh my gosh, I am so sad to hear this. What a tremendous loss of a sweet shining star here. Thank you for sharing this unfortunate news, @samsteele.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

This is such sad news. I will have to remember to touch the Slipper for her on our next visit. She was so warm and welcoming and so supportive of us out here on the Disneyland Team, too. She was always a constant presence here and will truly be missed!

 

[KingLlama]

Oh no.

I loved Heidi.

 

[ShesAPirate]

Rest in peace. Heidi was a bright spot in the old days of the Tuesday show chatterati. She will be missed.

 

[samsteele]

Thank you Craig @Teleclashter for your memorial to @SorcererHeidi on today's The DIS Unplugged show. Heidi would have loved it. Her friends on the Boards deeply appreciate it.

 

[ALWEASEL]

I really don't know what to say about Sorcerer Heidi. It's a bit of a shock.
Since I am more of a lurker and don't post a lot, but I read more. She always seemed to be a beacon of positivity. That seems to be a thing with with the Dis moderators and such. I am very sorry to hear about her death and will pray for her and her family.

 

[NC Belle]

Thank you Craig for the lovely words that you had for Heidi. She was great at remembering certain events/birthdays and celebrating other people's achievements. I have been cutting back on my board time because I needed to change some routines and been volunteering on weekends so it took me a while to realize it was a bit since I chatted with her and I usually don't get to see the live chat on Tuesday plus I don't facebook. I will hope to honor her on my future Disney trip.

She had ".Will you PLEASE tell my Prince to hurry? He is late, LATE, for a VERY important date, and I'm getting older, and tired of waiting!! " Heidi would had laughed if I could told her that my 85 year old MIL broke the news to us that she is getting married this June on April Fool's day.

@SorcererHeidi.... Thanks for being a great friend. Thank you for your service.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We learned today that @SorcererHeidi died suddenly at her home in Ocean County, NJ on January 24, 2023.

Heidi was a member of the Boards for 16 years and a frequent if not daily poster. She loved the DIS, was a proud and loyal DIS'r, and loved all things Disney.

She made many lifelong friends here on the Boards and her legacy lives on through her many friendships across America and the world. Heidi was a loyal and fierce booster of the DIS Team and the DIS Unplugged show. She was particularly protective and supportive of Ryno, Craig, Teresa and Kathy. She loved their work ethic, their contributions, content and their fun and creative vibe.

Heidi was loved by many and her presence and contributions will be greatly missed. Over the past years, her health issues limited her ability to travel to her beloved Magic Kingdom. But she never tired of supporting and helping others with their trip planning and Disney dreams.

A more detailed post about Heidi is now on the In Memoriam subforum and a link to her obituary has been provided there. I encourage you to read that post. Heidi was a Navy veteran, served her neighbours and community in New Jersey with her local police force and even in retirement cared for her neighbours by donating her time and experience to her local neighbourhood watch.

If Heidi touched your life here on the Boards or helped you in any way over the years, please remember her the next time you are in the Magic Kingdom. She would ask her DIS friends to pause and think of her at the Partners Statue and at the Cinderella Castle Mosaic Mural. She asked me many times to touch Cinderella's slipper and think of her whenever I visited the Magic Kingdom because she physically couldn't be there and experience her favourite park. Heidi didn't have an easy life. Nothing was given to her. But she fought to live well and true. She worked hard and served others. She made a good life for herself. She was a blessing to those she touched. Heidi will be missed and remembered.

Thank you for posting and letting everyone know about SorcererHeidi. I was really sad to hear that she had passed away, and am grateful that she decided to come to our boards and share her kind and uplifting spirit with everyone. She was one of the most encouraging members of our community. I imagine that her life was not easy, yet she didn't let any of those burdens affect her participation in our discussions, and maybe because of that insight she tended to lift the rest of us up. I will miss her and sincerely wish her a peaceful rest.

 

[DianeW]

Oh, no! I'm so sorry for her loss. She was always such a bright spot on the boards. Prayers for peace and comfort for her family and all those who loved her.

 

[Sean91]

So, so heartbroken to hear of Heidi’s passing.

At a really tough point in my life these boards provided refuge from the harshness of life, and Heidi played no small part in that.

Rest peacefully.

 

[samsteele]

In closing, I wanted to thank @WebmasterMaryJo and all the moderators and administrators who have made the Boards a good and kind place. This is an appropriate place to give thanks and @SorcererHeidi would approve. In the fog of all that's happening now, we forget how much work and effort so many have made to make the Boards such an incredible place for decades.

I really appreciate your help with finding out what happened to @SorcererHeidi. It allowed so many of her friends on the Boards to send her off in style. I checked out the website of the funeral home that handled her arrangements and it doesn't look like any of her immediate friends were able to put together an online obituary. Heidi's only real obituary was here on the Boards. I know that would have meant so much to her. Without the help of @WebmasterMaryJo and all of Heidi's friends on the Boards, Heidi wouldn't have been remembered. That's a huge thing. We appreciate it. Heidi appreciates it. We live on through the internet for better or worse. For Heidi, it's definitely been for the better.

@WebmasterMaryJo thank you for your kindness, for dropping everything at that time to respond to me and to help make her remembrance happen. Thank you @Teleclashter for your kind words about Heidi on the podcast. Regarding other moderators, I particularly want to extend my thanks to @WebmasterJackie, @scrappinginontario and @Pumbaa_ who I have interacted with the most and who have always been incredibly helpful, professional, kind and gracious. Thanks are overdue. Thank you so much. I'll use one of Heidi's favourite emojis to end in remembrance that this is a good and wonderful community.

 

[Tonyz]

So, I'd just like to say one thing in this place dedicated to our friend. I am currently in the process of getting my second book published. This one is about how you can use Disney to help your mental health. The last chapter in it is about the benefits of utilizing community when feeling alone or discouraged. I named-checked these boards, and I asked Heidi if she would be interested in me interviewing her for a comment in the book. Of course, she responded with her usual enthusiasm. After we talked and I wrote the chapter, I sent her section to her. She was so proud and excited about it, which made me feel so happy that I did her words justice.

After her unexpected death, I added an addendum to the chapter as a sort of tribute to Heidi. I planned to mail a copy of the book to her family. However, I'm struggling to include the passage in the book due to no longer wanting to even namecheck this website, anymore.

Anyways, whether or not I include the section, I thought Heidi's friends would appreciate her words and what she was so proud of being a part of:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I asked an awesome online friend of mine about her take on all of this. Her name is Heidi S. Kulesh, but to me she will always be Sorcerer Heidi from the DISboards. My sincerest thanks go to her for allowing me to share what we discussed on this topic.

I’ve talked to her for years, along with my other pals in our little group on the DIS Unplugged forum. Heidi has always been open about the fact that while she has spent a lot of her life “alone,” she is rarely “lonely” because of the Disney online community.

To quote exactly what she told me: “Those online connections are always there.”

In a recent conversation, she told me that she started engaging in the world of the internet way back in 1992 while planning a trip to Walt Disney World.

And now, decades later, she tells me that she has made and kept many online contacts, acquaintances, and genuine friends from talking about all things Disney, even going back to those early days of ‘92.

While conversing with Heidi about the Disney community and mental health, she told me how talking to fellow Walt Disney World fans helped her in tough moments.

Heidi told me that these online conversations help her “recall the whole range of Disney memories.” They help her be more mindful of the good in her life that she has experienced. And even if things aren’t so great right now, she can remind herself that they aren’t permanent. There is more out there than what she is currently feeling.

There are good things in this world that can and will be experienced again.

And you’ve got a community to share them with.

...

**Note: In between writing this chapter and the publication of this book, Heidi unexpectedly passed away. I read the news in shock and sadness at the loss of such a sweet and caring human being. I know she was very proud to have her words included in this book, and I’m honored to share her perspectives with others. Heidi was the embodiment of the positives that can come from making connections online, and she was proof that you’re never alone in this community when there are amazing people like her out there. Rest easy, my friend.

 

[Cornish Lad]

We learned today that @SorcererHeidi died suddenly at her home in Ocean County, NJ on January 24, 2023.

Heidi was a member of the Boards for 16 years and a frequent if not daily poster. She loved the DIS, was a proud and loyal DIS'r, and loved all things Disney.

She made many lifelong friends here on the Boards and her legacy lives on through her many friendships across America and the world. Heidi was a loyal and fierce booster of the DIS Team and the DIS Unplugged show. She was particularly protective and supportive of Ryno, Craig, Teresa and Kathy. She loved their work ethic, their contributions, content and their fun and creative vibe.

Heidi was loved by many and her presence and contributions will be greatly missed. Over the past years, her health issues limited her ability to travel to her beloved Magic Kingdom. But she never tired of supporting and helping others with their trip planning and Disney dreams.

A more detailed post about Heidi is now on the In Memoriam subforum and a link to her obituary has been provided there. I encourage you to read that post. Heidi was a Navy veteran, served her neighbours and community in New Jersey with her local police force and even in retirement cared for her neighbours by donating her time and experience to her local neighbourhood watch.

If Heidi touched your life here on the Boards or helped you in any way over the years, please remember her the next time you are in the Magic Kingdom. She would ask her DIS friends to pause and think of her at the Partners Statue and at the Cinderella Castle Mosaic Mural. She asked me many times to touch Cinderella's slipper and think of her whenever I visited the Magic Kingdom because she physically couldn't be there and experience her favourite park. Heidi didn't have an easy life. Nothing was given to her. But she fought to live well and true. She worked hard and served others. She made a good life for herself. She was a blessing to those she touched. Heidi will be missed and remembered.

So sorry to hear this - always appreciated her input and interaction on here - she will be sadly missed and I will certainly be remembering her when we are in MK come September.