This Thursday, Nov. 18th, will mark the second year since my brother Jay left this life. It has been a terrible loss for those of us who knew and loved him, none more so than his children, Katy, Will, and John Patrick. When I was 3 months old, my father, Joseph, died unexpectedly. And although pictures and family stories are still available, these are mere echoes of the man I would never know. Since I was so young, like JP, I could not know the vacuum created when someone so vital is no longer there, while for Katy and Will, the emptiness was brutally apparent, but at least they will remember their father. I cannot say which is the sadder case: to have never known him and avoided the shock of that day, or to have to bear that shock as the price for a few precious years with him.
Since I started this web site, my only hope has been that some day his children will have a place to look back on their father’s life and understand how much he meant to everyone who knew him. The videos of the memorial service, the pictures, and the written testimonials will be a treasure for them to uncover, even though they will only be an echo of the man they called daddy.