Rett Nearburg, an artist at the birth of his career, passed gently into God's embrace on Friday, January 14, 2005, at 10:40 p.m.

Born July 1, 1983, Rett tenaciously lived each day to the fullest throughout his eleven-and-a-half-year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma. He loved Apple computers, art, video games, music and motorcycles. Completely lacking self-pity, Rett volunteered for numerous Phase 1 drug trials, often bearing significant pain and discomfort. Whenever cancer stole one aspect of his life, he turned another page and charged ahead. He lived joyously and passionately, full of humor, wisdom, and grace.

We were blessed by his courageous presence in our lives.We have chosen to use this online presence to remember Rett, and to share our son's legacy. Here you will find Rett's writing, art and photography, as well as remembrances of him written by those who knew and loved him.

Copyright © 2008
Charles and Dana Nearburg
Contributions remain the property of their authors.

In celebration of Rett’s life on the 5th anniversary of his passing, we have added photos of the finished Rett wagon to the “wheels – rett’s rides” section.  This sleeper hot rod has 450hp, 450’/lbs of torque, and handles like a modern day racecar.  It is great fun to drive.  It is everything Rett envisioned when he conceived and worked on the project.   Thanks to the crew at Nearburg Racing – Lee Ryan, Roine Andersson, and David Tate – for finishing this project the way Rett would have wanted. 

In 2009 the Spirit of Rett, with Charles driving, set two new Bonneville records:   The AA/Gas streamliner record at 368.136 MPH, and the AA/Fuel  streamliner record at 392.503.  In addition to setting these two records, the Spirit of Rett set a fastest speed of the meet at 402.955 MPH.  With these records, the Spirit of Rett has set the following milestones:

• First unblown single-engine car in history over 400 MPH
• Fastest single engine normally aspirated car on gas/fuel

There are some new photos and video to be seen.  Click on  “spirit of rett – go speed racer go”.

In memory of Rett on his 25th Birthday, we have added "anna - a sister's poems"

In memory of Rett on the 3rd anniversary of his death, we have added:

1. Some of Rett’s autobiographical musings,
2. A version of his earlier 2000-2001 rett.org  with content – fun to look at.
3. Digital collages Rett created – in the art and photography section.
4. A new “remembrance” from Lacy Lynch, Yumi Vong, Dan Meyer, Paul Bennet, Vickie Hurst, Jeff Buck, and Chris Hickman.
5. Photos of new progress on Rett’s hot rod wagon,
6. Photos and Video of “Spirit of Rett”, a world land speed racing car dedicated to Rett in which Charles set 3 records at Bonneville with a top speed of 375 MPH.

Fighting Ewing’s Sarcoma – What We Are Doing, What You Can Do

* All of Rett's work is copyrighted but is here for you to enjoy subject to the guidelines Rett placed on his web site: "everything here is mine : all rights reserved. anything and everything on this site is for personal non-commercial use only. no re-distribution of any kind allowed without explicit permission (ask via e-mail). be cool. just enjoy my work. don't try and make money off of it or pass it off as yours. if you do i will hunt you down and kill you. i'm very protective of my work."