Most people are excited to start a new year, you know, wipe the slate clean, feel rejuvenated, and a fresh start.
It’s a time to set new goals, aim for new heights and have enthusiasm for better things to come if you had a bad previous year.
Sometimes, and I alluded to it two columns ago, sometimes sadness falls over the holiday making the new year difficult to get going.
For as much as we look forward to see what child was born on New Year’s Day, you know on the opposite end, we lose people. It’s just a sad fact.
When I was younger my dad lost one of his aunts on Christmas Day and I remember feeling terrible for her family and how it would affect them every Christmas thereafter.
I’m sure this is old folklore, but my grandfather told me a lot of ill people pass away after the holidays. He said sick people have a desire to stay alive through the holidays.
I’ve never looked up stats on such a myth, but maybe there’s some truth to that, who knows?
The one thing I do know is when a loved one is lost over the holidays; they are never the same after that.
Two friends of mine lost their lives over the last week or so and that feeling rushed back to me on my sorrow for the families in losing someone over Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Sheila McGarry, a women I met back in the early 1990s, was a former employee of the Sunday Dispatch.
Before I became a columnist, reporter and photographer for the Dispatch, I got a part-time job doing computer graphics at the paper. I was able to use the skills I learned in doing advertisement ad layouts.
I made friends with Sheila and others while I was there and found her to be humorous and a spitfire. She was a pistol and her humor was dry, but very real. Sheila called it like she saw it and never minced words. She was sassy, brash, and a very matter of fact.
Although never married, she worked many jobs in her life and most times, two at one time. Most recently, Sheila worked for the City of Pittston fulltime and Gerrity’s grocery store in the evening.
I’m not sure if Sheila could ever sit still long enough to breathe, but that was she, always moving, always doing. I don’t believe she needed to work so many jobs financially speaking, but she just did.
We have a mutual friend in Cathy Fusco and Cathy conveyed a story when the two and others went away on vacation. According to Cathy, the group had so much fun, neighbors at the hotel called the police on what they felt was loud behavior.
When the police showed up, they didn’t expect a bunch of women causing the noise; he was expecting teens or young adults causing the disturbance. But that’s how Sheila and Cathy and others rolled. It was about good times.
Sheila lost her life to a rapid-growing brain tumor on Dec. 30 while still at home. It was the same type of tumor that took her sister Linda many years ago. In fact, the cancer moved so fast, Sheila didn’t even have a chance at treatment that she agreed to try.
Sheila was larger than life and will be missed by all that knew her.
On Friday, Dec. 22, I attended a viewing of Alberta Simonson, widow of former West Pittston Police Chief Richard Simonson. Alberta was also the sister of my first cousin’s husband, Harold Green.
It was there I saw Rick Dushok, Alberta’s son-in-law married to Alberta’s daughter, Debbie.
Richie, as I called him, worked at Wyoming Area at the same time I did a stint at the school
I never heard Richie say a bad word about anyone. He was non-political and never talked badly about his superiors, teachers, or the school board. He just went in everyday to work and did his job.
Whenever I needed help, Richie was right there for me. He was one of those guys that would give you the shirt off his back for you.
Away from work, he was a volunteer firefighter and a part of the EMS crew for the Borough of West Pittston where his son Kevin and daughter Marissa would eventually gravitate.
Richie always had a smile, I never saw him down in the dumps.
On Tuesday, Jan. 2, he passed away after suffering a heart attack a few evenings earlier.
Little did I know when I saw him on Dec. 22, it would be for the last time.
In typical, non-selfish Richie way, he gave the last gift of life to others because he was an organ donor.
His family shared the “Walk of Honor” video with those on Facebook when they escorted him to the operating room to harvest his organs for donation. The hallway was lined with hospital personnel to bid Richie good-bye and to salute him.
It is a tearjerker to watch, but for me, it made me happy and proud to have known Richie with him helping others in death as he did while alive.
Two friends gone too soon, may they rest in peace and may the perpetual light shine upon them.
Quote of the Week
“Never be afraid of tears. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing truth. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing the beauty of life.” – Osho
Thought of the Week
“What brings us to tears, will lead us to grace. Our pain is never wasted.” – Bob Goff
Bumper Sticker
“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.” – Jean de La Fontaine
