Since I've been here, we've had a few people pass away.
Miss Spotted Horse, Restless Heart, and, Tongue of Fire. Two of these members were older members and passed away several years ago. I've been a member since 2004. If you want to do a search, you can. I don't know if Miss Spotted Horse is still in the member directory or not. However, when she was, someone added the designation of "deceased" under her name. Tongue of Fire had Lupus and died from complications of the disease. If you care to, you can do a search of her username and I'm sure there's a thread that will come up. The memorial thread for HER was locked so that it's no longer revivable causing pain to people who knew her IRL.
I, myself, nearly passed away in 2005, but that's another story.
It's been known to happen and there have been a few REAL members who have died. The only memorial those that exists or existed was TOF's. I actually think it would be nice to have something along the lines of a memorial for those who were members here and have passed on. However, due to what happened with Byrdie, someone would have to verify the passing before AD members are notified. That, ofc, is to save us a lot of unnecessary drama.
Just my .02