Mars Stoops knew little about computers and even less about the Internet two years ago. But after some cajoling from family and friends, he agreed to buy one for his home.
It soon changed his life.
Mr. Stoops, known as Breeze, started a popular Internet chat room that was visited regularly by hundreds of people from around the world.
The 47-year-old Hanover Park resident died Monday, Feb. 18, of a heart attack in his home.
Born and raised in Chicago, Mr. Stoops held various jobs before landing in the Chicago Streets and Sanitation Department, rearranging the orange cones to expand lanes for daily rush-hour traffic. One day, while stretching from the side of a truck to put down a cone, he hurt his back. The disability then kept him at home.
“He became depressed. . . . He needed to be around people,” said his wife, Cindy. Then Mr. Stoops got on the Internet.
“I remember sitting quietly in a chat room for Web newbies and shyly announcing that I had been hooked up to the Web for three weeks, and he confided that he was now on his fourth day,” wrote JustMe this week on the A Lot of Friendly People site.
Dozens wrote in to talk about Breeze, who founded the msn.com chat room.
“You required a special dictionary to decipher Breeze’s typing at times,” wrote JustMe. “I asked him a question once, and there was this long line of letters that made no sense. He had fallen backward off his chair, and while in midair his fingers hit the keyboard.”
Mr. Stoops was popular because he considered his “roomies” in the chat room his friends, said his wife, known as Boomer on the site.
“He made me feel very welcomed, very trusting, and had a great sense of humor. He was like a huge magnet, drawing me to him,” wrote janis.
Added Sophie: “His motto in the room was, `Be nice.'” So nice, in fact, that the regulars from A Lot of Friendly People decided to meet in person. It was an event organized, of course, by their leader, Breeze.
Along with his wife of 21 years, Mr. Stoops is survived by three sons, Steven, Sean and Patrick; a daughter, Melony; his mother, Marie; and two brothers, Jerry Perica and Charles.
Services have been held.
