Tribute

My brother Paul was the third of four children. I, his sister Judy, was the fourth. We were 7 years apart. He was an avid ice skater despite having polio when he was 4 and was on a hockey league in his 30s. He also taught skiing at Alpine Valley here in Michigan. He was very smart and graduated with gold from the National Honor Society. He then attended General Motors Institute in Flint, Mi. He graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. He was the type who didn't like to be fussed over. Didn't like birthday cakes, celebrations, weddings. He was always good to laugh with, though. His nicknames for me were Double O and Toot. No idea where he got them from. We had 2 older sisters, Lillian and Christine. Christine passed in 1992 at the age of 48 from Lupus. He didn't come. He came a week after it was all over and stayed with my husband, Michael, our son, Jeremy, who was going on 5 years old, who is now 38. When our oldest sister Lillian passed in 2005, he didn't come home either. When our mom passed in her sleep, just like he did, in 1997, he didn't come home either. Our dad, if you can say he was one, left when Paul was 11 and I was 4. He could never let that go and messed with him his entire life. When I got married in 1974, and he lived here in Michigan, he didn't attend. But I knew how he was, and that was that. But what I was most grateful for is when our firstborn, Jessica, passed away during delivery in 1981, from meconium aspiration, he came to the cemetery for the prayers and burial. I know he loved all of us, and my mom used to say is "All I can do is pray for him." He called us about 3-4 times a week and would yak about everything. When he had the surgery for the rod in his leg, we'd call him. Well, the last time Michael called him was May 1st. Paul said, " Stop calling, I've got a lot going on here. I'll call you when I want to." That's the last time we heard from him. I always told him we missed him so much and wanted to visit, but he'd get extremely nervous and say NoNoNo. I told him to come and live with us, but he wouldn't. He was never engaged or married. I do think it stemmed from the "dad" thing. I wish would've come back to live, but it wasn't meant to. He would always ask my husband, How's my sister and her Parkinson's doing, and he would say that I never sit down and am always doing something. So I never saw him since Feb. of '92. What's ironic is our son has his long arms and slender, long fingers. And the hairy chest and back! I've always missed him, but I'm getting old now too, so maybe we can then hug like we used to, but it'll be sooner than 33 yrs since the last hug. I want to thank you for your correspondence with me. I sure want to know how he helped research. Sincerely, Judy, A.K.A, Toot & DoubleO. XXX)))

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