On December 24 a friend of our family’s passed away. He was an aspiring film maker and lived with his bride of 6 months or so in L.A.
The memorial service was last month, it was so emotional I could not write about it then… He was 28 and just beginning his life, he had a brain aneurysm and passed away in the hospital. He donated many of his organs and saved many lives with his last great gift.
I remember Jay as the younger brother of Rob, Kevin’s best friend that lived down the street from us growing up. Kevin and Rob as well as a number of neighborhood kids including Jay were in and out of our house and we were in and out of theirs. I have memories of Jay flying through, trying to keep up with Kevin and Jay. As Jay grew older he became interested in the same music I was interested in, I saw him at a few Ani shows, Bella Fleck, and others local bands that I cannot remember now. He was funny, sweet and kind.
At the memorial his wife put together interviews with people in his life in California, set up different speakers from through out his life as well as showing some of his short films and many, many pictures of him. It was funny and terribly, terribly sad. With such a well documented life, you almost expected him to walk out on stage. While his oldest brother was speaking about him on stage at the state theater, due to stress and lack of eating he passed out. Falling forward onto the podium breaking it as he fell. In the words of my mother “this is too much, just too much”. Chris was taken away by ambulance and we were later told he was bruised but fine. There was panic, crying and lots of praying. The whole memorial service was really hard and done with such love and affection for him. I was seeing images for weeks afterwards.
I have been milling Jay around in my mind since December and my is wish for everybody to know Jay at least a little bit. His wife has put together a website and a foundation in his honor. It shows pictures of Jay, some of his work and talks about the foundation.
check back soon for the updates that are being added. The website is a good way for people to get to know Jay a little bit. The memorial service ended with a video of Jay singing “forever young” by Neil Young. With a tears in my eyes I left the theater singing this song and thinking of Jay.
May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
