(5-30-12) IN MEMORY OF WALT

Walter Cooney passed away two years ago tonight. 

He  wasn’t rich or famous like a powerful politician, big time movie actor, or rock star, but he was very important and vital and uniquely special to his family and circle of friends – some lifelong from the time of his youth; Walt was my cherished little brother, Kerri’s longtime companion, Dad’s oldest son, and the apple of our mother’s eye, the one she called her ‘Golden Child’.

 While reliving the anguish and  horrible pain  of  learning my brother had died does no good,  reflecting on Walter's  life, and the gladness  he brought to  others,  helps to lighten the  empty feeling,  and loss  of   one so  loved  , one  no longer (physically)  here.  So today, on the anniversary of his death, each of us who knew and cared for my brother commemorates his 55 years of life with both tears of sorrow, and tears of joy for his presence in our lives, and all that he gave us.

Walt was no saint, and could be full of the dickens, but he had a kind heart and gentle spirit; He didn't judge people harshly, or hold grudges, and loved to laugh.   He was never overt in sharing his faith, but often called our mother and asked for prayers for some special need. He told her he liked to stop in at St. Joseph’s church (not far from his home) during the week to ‘talk things over with God’.    A few weeks after his passing I was  moved when Mother presented me with an edition of the New Testament, the one inscribed to Walt from my husband Gary and me for his birthday in September, 1982.   I held it in my hands, and remembered buying this particular edition just for him at a religious education conference I attended in Anaheim, California.  What touched my spirit more was to find passages and page numbers my brother had highlighted, like the one from Revelation 5:11-13

  As my vision continued, I heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, thousands and tens of thousands, and they all cried out: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard the voices of every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea; everything in the universe cried aloud: “To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be praise and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!”

It was as though , just at that moment  while  I was still deeply grieving  for  him, my brother   wanted to share  this passage with me, to help  reassure me he was okay, he was worshipping in the glory of the Lord with all the saints and angels; That all was well.  

And it did help me  through the grieving process. Not that there aren’t times I still grieve, and miss my brother. I do. I will always miss him.  Not in an unwholesome way, but as one misses  someone  so dear, once part of themself, the sweet days of childhood and their  lifetime of  shared  moments,  now forever gone.  It is then I pick up Walt’s New Testament to read the verses he underlined so many years ago, and am reassured again.  He is with the Lord, and the Lord is with him.

The truth is my brother wouldn’t want his mother or father, his family or  friends to be continually sad, he would want us to be happy and embrace life with zest – to live and love and laugh. He would want us to  think of him and smile.