May 30 - In Memory of My Brother Walt Cooney

   May 30, 2013.  My brother passed away three years ago today. It's not the kind of anniversary one marks on the calendar and looks forward to with anticipation and glee, but   melancholy that a life is no more , gone too soon from his mother and dad, and  family and friends who loved him

    I choose not to wallow in grief, but to commemorate the life of  my beloved brother, and life long friend. I remember his walk and the way he stood straight and tall, the color of his eyes and happy smile, the sound of his voice, and how he laughed  when he got really tickled over something silly  someone did or said.

   Walt  died and left this earth to be with our Lord on the other side,  but he also lives in my heart and memory. And I know , come what may,  some things can never change. He will  forever be his mothers only son, and my little brother.

   Posted below , a  memory of Walt titled Lil' Cowboy, a poem I wrote three years before his passing. It was published in Write On ! Poetry Magazette   February 2007.   The verses  came to me as I   had been thinking of a time when Walt and I were kids, visiting our Grandmother's house in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Walt loved everything cowboy. Clothes, hats, boots.   His favorite was Roy Rogers.  Mother enjoys telling  the story, and I remember it, too when a neighborhood boy knocked on Grandma's front door. When  mom opened the door the little boy asked if Roy could come out to play. Mother replied,  "Honey, There isn't anybody named Roy  here". The boy  answered with a  definite  "Huh-huh ! My new friend, he said his name is Roy Rogers!"

                                                                       Lil' Cowboy

                                                               When my brother Walt
                                                                was just a boy
                                                                he dressed like his hero
                                                                a cowboy named Roy
                                                                in his cowboy shirt
                                                                and cowboy pants,
                                                                cowboy boots and
                                                                cowboy hat.
                                                                A holstered six-shooter
                                                                at his side,
                                                                he walked around
                                                                with cowboy pride
                                                                Eating cowboy cookies,
                                                                singing cowboy songs
                                                                his cowboy cat
                                                                tagging along
                                                                He aimed to please
                                                                and do only good
                                                                just like his hero
                                                                Roy Rogers would