RIP bansaisequoia

[opallady]

I found this on my home page on facebook this morning. I don't know if it will come out here: Karen Kartheiser is with Joseph Kartheiser.

12 hrs ·

Rest in peace. 11/17/61 - 9/24/19

40You and 39 others
52 Comments
Sad
Comment Comments

View 48 more comments
4 of 52

• 
  Louise Johnson Amen.
  Hide or report this
  • Like
  • · Reply
  • · 1h
• 
  Charlene Krembs I’m sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers are with you all.
  Hide or report this
  • Like
  • · Reply
  • · 54m
• 
  Carmen Blair-Wesser So sorry Karen. Thoughts are with you.
  Hide or report this
  • Like
  • · Reply
  • · 45m
• 
  Robin Flowers-Tyloch My sincere condolences to you and your family. Thoughts and prayers being sent your way.
  Hide or report this
  • Like
  • · Reply
  • · 29m

[LLapp]

This is so sad.
I have been looking for a death notice and have found nothing. But I found this obituary, which seems to be for his mother, who died at age 83 less than one month earlier.

[opallady]

What a sad, sad time for the family.

[Digirl28]

It is very sad...I have known Joseph for many years, since we first started on cryptograms. He had such a great sense of humor and wit. He had so many great stories to tell. He was a gifted musician. He was originally from the town where I was living and we met once in 2008 to go to his college reunion. It was an honor knowing him. We lost contact over the last 5 years and I feel so bad, that we did not get a chance to talk again. I also tried to find what I could and the only thing I could find was that his mom died about a month before. His dad still lives near Milwaukee. RIP Joseph.

[Eureka]

It is really nice to hear that you met him, Digirl28. That must have been a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing your memories.

[LLapp]

Digirl28, I recall Joseph a.k.a. bansai mentioning in a quote comment that you were his date for his college reunion back in Wisconsin. That was actually one of my favorite bansai comments because it was clearly so warm.

[abra]

Yes, I read several comments where he was counting down the time until you went to his reunion. He also mentioned it afterwards.
He mentioned you quite often and Kat too.

[Icky]

How very sad. I've only been playing cryptograms for a short while and don't know anyone, like others do. I always enjoyd Bansai's witty comments and noticed his amazing scores. My condolences to all that had the pleasure of knowing him.

[badbob]

before i found this website i thought that i was a very good player. then i found out what truly great players were. bansai's skills were on another plane. his speed records will stand forever RIP to an unmatched talent

[oddcouple]

I've become a pretty decent player with high solve rates and very fast times. Including sub 10s. But my personal favorite accomplishment was last year when, for the first and only time, I broke a bansaisequoia record. You gotta admire a legend like him.

[Spellbinder44]

Back in 2010, I was new to Cryptograms and the Internet was a strange new place to me. BansaiSequioa talked to me on the Cryptograms forum back then. I felt he was very well read and a kind man too. Then, later on I found out he was a top-notch Cryptogram solver too.

RIP BansaiSequioa aka Joseph Kartheiser

[CryptoB]

Very sad to lose Bansai, he epitomized our cryptogram community.

[figmo]

Ouch! So young, too! He was The Best.

[will0416]

The website feels different without bansai. I remember when I first started his records would provide so much motivation for me to improve. Rest in peace.

[kahvecowgirl]

I only overlapped with bansai for a short time, but of course I saw his records everywhere, and read his comments, which I loved. His video on this forum, where he set several records while muttering that no one could set so many records, was a classic. I'd noticed he was gone for a while, and hoped he was ok. This is very sad news.