RIP Alec Hall – One Of My Favorite Turtle Riders

 

In the 10 years I’ve been publishing stories on Turtleboy I’ve had the pleasure of conversing and meeting with thousands of people I didn’t know before. A handful of them have died, because dying is unfortunately a part of life. It’s always a strange feeling when that happens, especially with people you’ve spoken with so many times but never met. You feel like you know them, because you talk to them more than you do some of your older friends who you lost touch with. But the reality is that you never met them, you never got to know their families, and you’re left with this strange feeling when you find out they passed.

Earlier in the week I found out that a turtle rider named Alec Hall from Derry NH, passed away after taking her own life. She leaves behind a teenage son, and recently buried her baby who was born stillborn.

I have had conversations with Alec dating back years, and if I told her she’d one day be featured on a Turtleboy blog she’d freak out. I felt like I knew her, even though we never met and never any plans to meet. She would send me pictures of herself and her son in Turtleboy gear frequently, including some really old stuff that you’d only own if you were riding the turtle for a LONG time. The last message she sent me was her son wearing the original “I Am Turtleboy” t-shirt from 2015, before we even had a logo. The very last thing she ever said to me was “life is good like that.”

Alec was a stranger to me, but she didn’t treat me like I was one. In February of 2021 I took a few weeks off from the blog because I was dealing with some serious mental health issues stemming from depression. In my line of work you have to constantly be sharp and ready to entertain. But I’m human, and sometimes that’s harder than it seems. It was really bad back then, and I couldn’t put on a mask and pretend everything was fine. I had to write about it because people would wonder why content wasn’t being published anymore. The overwhelming support I received as a result of that blog helped me in ways you can’t imagine.

Alec was one of hundreds, if not thousands of turtle riders, who reached out to offer their support, and I’ll never forget the people who did that. Her message was long, heartfelt, and personal. It was one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me, and I want to share it to show you the kind of person she was.

(the x is next to the c on the keyboard)

I never met this woman before, and she wrote all that to me. It pains me to know that she was battling her own demons and I couldn’t help her the way she helped me. She loved BOTH of her children, and she would never leave her son behind unless she was very, very sick. So I’m writing this blog as a reminder to reach out to people in your life who have experienced trauma, or are experiencing depression, and let them know how loved they are. The pain Alec was feeling was temporary, and would have gone away in time, just as mine did. The hard part is getting through the dark days, and it breaks my heart that she was alone for that.

Alec also was a Karen Read supporter, and this was the last post she made on our Justice for John and Karen Facebook group.

If Alec is reading this from heaven, I want to apologize for featuring you in a Turtleboy blog, but at least it’s not for selling your food stamps on Facebook. I will miss our conversations (on the 10 Facebook accounts I had to message you on), and I want to give your family, and especially your son, my deepest condolences.

RIP Alec. Turtle rider forever.