Doreen Mulman (1961-2014)

It is with great sadness that I report that my dear friend, Doreen Mulman, passed away today at the young age of 52. I spoke with her roommate and our mutual friend, Nora Salisbury, who told me that she died of an apparent heart attack sometime after 9:00 am. [4/14/2014 UPDATE - I e-mailed Nora to inquire about the official cause of death and she told me that "on the death certificate it says primary cause was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and secondary cause was congestive heart failure". So, essentially it was a heart attack that took our beloved Doreen :-( ]

For those of you who weren't around in the early days of the Ghostbusters online community, Doreen was a co-creator and co-webmistress of The Ghostbusters Fan Forum, which was the ultimate resource for fan artwork, writings, and other fan contributions (before these things were commonplace thanks to social networking sites). An Extreme Ghosthead since the 1980s, I was honored when Doreen accepted my request to be an admin on the Spook Central Facebook page. (Her last post was on February 28, 2014, which was a link to an article about the minor league baseball team, the Toledo Mud Hens, wearing Ghostbusters-inspired uniforms for a May 30th game in honor of the film's 30th anniversary and Harold Ramis' recent death.)

I first met Doreen when she, Nora, and I exchanged several interesting messages on Bill Emkow's Ghostbusters Message Board. These "naughty" posts not only lead to a continued friendship, but also to the creation of the Ghostbusters Fan Forum on December 4, 1997. In the Summer of 1998, when my relatives in California offered my father and I the opportunity to take a trip to visit them, I used that as a chance to meet Doreen and Nora. To date, they are the only online friends that I've met in person, and I really wish I had a chance to visit them again.


Over the past 17 years we exchanged letters and packages, and a LOT of videotapes! It was thanks to Doreen and Nora that I was able to add the alternate redubbed and Slimer episodes to my The Real Ghostbusters tape collection. I have saved many of the letters and notes because Doreen's great sense of humor always shone through in her writings. For my birthday in 2000, Doreen wrote me a little note on Hello Kitty stationary. Look at how she decorated the envelope...


I wonder if the mail carrier got the joke she wrote on this envelope from March 2001.


Only Doreen would write me a check for $6.66!


Here's a personalized Extreme Ghostbusters card Doreen sent me back in 2003.


Not only would we exchange written communication, but we sent each other ecards for birthdays and other holidays every year, we chatted via AOL Instant Messenger, and one time Doreen and Nora sent me a video file. It's a short bit of them goofing around while testing out a webcam on May 14, 2001, but I've kept it all these years because it never fails to bring a smile to my face. (WARNING: Audio might be very loud - prepare to lower your speakers!)


In some of the packages she would include magazine/tabloid clippings, which she would add humorous captions to. A few weeks ago I posted two of these to the Spook Central Facebook page: Dan Aykroyd kissing Sebastian The Crab, and Chris Farley as Slimer.

On December 24, 2013 I received what would be the last package and card I would ever receive from her. She sent me the Seasons Greetings card below, which she added her special touch to, along with a Ghostbusters Distressed Logo Glow-in-the-Dark T-Shirt.


Through her fantastic ability to network and make friends, and being located near the Entertainment Capital of the World, Doreen maintained the official websites for several Ghostbusters actors: Frank Welker (Ray & Slimer in RGB), Tara Charendoff/Strong (Kylie in EGB), Mary Kay Bergman (Banshee in EGB), Laura Summer (first Janine in RGB), Robyn Navlyt/Shelby (Slimer in GB2), and Rino Romano (Eduardo in EGB). I took great pleasure in working on The Sights & Sounds of Tara page for the Tara Strong site. It was always fun to work on projects with Doreen, especially if they were related to voice actors and animation - one of our common interests. I'll miss sharing voice actor appearances, interviews, and the such with her.


Doreen was kind enough to use her connections to get me two Ghostbusters comics signed by Tara and Laura. I am forever grateful that she did this for me.


That's the thing about Doreen; she was always willing to help out others if she could. She was a great help to me when I was living in a Red Cross shelter for six weeks around the end of 2012 thanks to Hurricane Sandy. Along with Matthew Jordan, she helped spread the word of my plight, maintain my website and Facebook page, and she even made a small donation to help my family out. I returned the favor last year, and I'm glad I did while she was still around to receive it. I always thought that if I knew my death was coming, I would send her all of my usernames and passwords so she could take care of my online life (close personal accounts, keep other accounts active as memorials). She's the only person in the world I would trust to take care of that for me. That should tell you just how much she meant to me.

For the past two months I put aside some items that belonged to my father that I was going to mail out to Doreen, along with one of my father's memorial cards. He had a naughty sense of humor, which Doreen and Nora also share, so I knew Doreen would find the humor in these specific items. It seems really twisted that I was going to send her one of my father's memorial cards, and now she may have one of her own for me to receive. In fact, as I go through stuff in the attic to sell on eBay, I found some dolls that my mother gave me permission to sell. I was going to e-mail Doreen in the next few days with photos asking what the dolls may be worth. Doreen was quite a doll collector and even still has some up for sale on eBay (I'm sure Nora will handle these orders). It seems weird that I can't e-mail Doreen anymore about this, or anything else.

Doreen was a strong person, perhaps stronger than even she knew. She was hospitalized for a month and a half back in 2004 with Necrotizing Fasciitis, aka The Flesh-Eating Bacteria. The illness took a big chunk of her right arm (the "meatsicle" as she called it), but she didn't let that stop her from working on her websites, communicating with friends, and keeping up with all of her online interests. She could have easily died in 2004, but she found the strength to keep going for another 10 years. I wish she could have made it another 10 years, and another 10 after that, and another 10 after that...

Doreen, we may have met only once, and grew apart for a little while, but I always considered you to be one of my dearest friends; perhaps even my BEST friend.
I'll miss you, Kitten.

Your Tiger,
Paul Rudoff


[UPDATE - 5/6/2014]
I just recorded a brief video message to be played at Doreen's memorial service on May 25, 2014. Also, if anyone would like to make a donation to Doreen's friend and roommate, Nora, to help her in her time of need, go here: http://gfwd.at/1tOi0fI.

DOREEN'S ONLINE PRESENCE
• Sites By Doreen - LeftForever.com
• Facebook - Personal Profile
• Facebook - Sites By Doreen Public Page
• Twitter
• Internet Movie Database
• eBay
• Ghostbusters Fans

OTHER ONLINE MEMORIALS
• My Sister Michelle's Facebook Page
• Craig Crumpton - Voice Actors In The News
• Alex Newborn - Ghostbusters Fans
• Tara Strong - Facebook (req. login & being her friend?)
• Tim Tilley - Facebook (req. login & being his friend?)

(Source for headshot in memorial image: Doreen's Facebook page)