This may sound a little odd but I felt I had come to know Al in a way.
After all, one can't do a fortnight's marathon of reading aloud DIHAL, starting with the stickies, without seeing his omnipresent engagement with everyone who came to the forum. And then when I saw a picture of him there was none of the 'so that's what he looks like' going on in my brain; it was 'well, of course it's Al, how could it be anyone else?'
Like I said, a bit odd. But I shall always be thankful that I joined the forum so that I could thank all the people who had helped my family so much, and grateful that Al replied with such warmth and dignity in accepting my thanks on behalf of you all. He was remarkable!