Former workmate dies, I'm in shock

Junction-Guy

Just this week we received some tragic news, that a former workmate died. I'm taking it kind of hard because I was his training officer when he first hired in. He was just a little younger than me and had suffered from diabetes since he was young. No one knew the arrangements as he was living out of state and we kept trying to find out. Finally this morning I was able to find his online obituary, and he will be laid to rest today in West Virginia.

I can't attend his funeral, but I wish I could.

He used to tease me alot about taking road trips and also eating at all the buffets, he called me the "buffet king". I knew that his mom lived in West Virginia near my hometown in Kentucky, and we talked alot about the hills and the coal mines and such. His grandparents were from upstate New York and he had a New York accent, he was raised by his grandparents I believe.

Once he left the Sheriff's Office I lost track of him, and I have wondered these past 2 years what became of him. Strangely at work everyone these past 2 weeks has thought about him and wondered what he was up to.

This is such a shock, I wish that I had kept in contact with him, I really regret not calling him up, but I had misplaced his number awhile back.

I was even more surprised to find out in the obituary that he of the Freewill Baptist faith, as that is what I am too.

This whole thing has hit me hard this morning, I am grieving not only for his death, but that I lost contact with him. From what I gather he moved back to New York with his grandparents sometime this year. He died in New York, but will be buried in W.VA today. Both his parents live in W VA.

So Sean, old buddy, rest in peace.

Dave

Bumble Bee

Sorry to hear that JG - I had a very similar experience a week ago, a former workmate died from a diabetic coma - also just a year younger than me. He was a really sweet guy, and we used to get after him to take better care of himself and his diabetes. After he left our office he worked for RIM and Open Text, and eventually relocated to California. Every once in a while when he was back home he'd stop in the office and say hi (and make sure he got hugs from all us women there lol). Death does hit you when you least expect it.

BB

FlyingHighNow

Oh, JG, I'm so sorry to hear of your friend's death and your profound sadness over this. I'm sure he enjoyed working with you and has thought of you many times. He probably thought that he would like to speak to you sometime and then put it off. Who anticipates and abrupt end? Even when you know, you don't believe it until it happens. And even then, you can't soak it all in for a few months to a year....that the person is gone. You know he is very aware of all those who love him, including you and the folks at the sheriff's dept. Of this I am completely confident.

Junction-Guy

Yeah it sure does, as this is such a shock. It really hit me hard when I saw his pic on the obituary.

I remember trading him a book for one of his extra glocuse meter machines, I still have the machine in my closet, though I never bought any strips.

He had alot of problems with his diabetes, and when he finally realized that he probably wouldn't make it to patrol, he got discouraged and quit. He had been in construction sales since.

I remember when he first came there he was a nervous wreck and would get all bent out of shape, we would just tell him to calm down and don't let things get to him, it was kind of comical though to watch him pace around and fling his arms.

He loved his dog, he took much better care of the dog than himself. Whenever we had parties at work he stood us up twice and said the dog got sick, the dog got snakebite, etc etc etc. We teased him about it and never let him forget it.

At the time he first started I don't believe I ever mentioned my JW background, but later he knew as I became very vocal about my apostate activities.

He knew all about my marriage problems, especially when I would come into work after having a major argument at home. He would help calm me down. We talked quite a bit about our lives, I am just surprised I never mentioned being a FreeWill Baptist to him.

One thing I will never forget is when he was on foot patrol around the perimeter of the facility and he got sprayed by a skunk, we teased him about that for months. Everytime we would see a skunk from then on we would tell him his little girlfriend was in the parking lot.

llbh

Hi JG

That is so sad i lost my only brother to a diabetic coma , it is quite horrid. He was 36 and fortunatley we were close when we became older.

Your experience and mine shows that if love someone it a such a shame to lose them and to that we should keep in contact

My deepest sympathy

((((((David)))))

Junction-Guy

thank you all for your condolences.

So many memories are coming to me right now. When he first came to work there, I was not out as an apostate, and I had not even been to an apostafest, so I was still too embarassed to admit I was raised a JW. A few months later I attended my first apostafest and my world changed, I suddenly started warning everyone I knew of the dangers of being in a cult.

One guy that I worked with told him I was really quiet to work with, Sean told him to ask me about Jehovah's Witnesses and I would talk his ears off, well sure enough I did.

I never really thought of Sean as a religious person, I just figured he would party with the rest of them. He did start attending the same Southern Baptist Church that the Sheriff did, we teased him about it, like he was trying to impress the Sheriff.

I asked him if he got down on the altar and prayed with the Sheriff, he just smiled and laughed. I told him, "the next thing you know you will be dating the Sheriff's daughter"

I guess the reason why I never kept up with him or hung out with him anymore that I did was that I figured he wouldn't want to hang out with a "fundy" like me.

It is amazing some things you don't really know about a person until they are dead.