David (Joey) was the adopted son of my grandmother’s youngest brother. While most of the family lived in northern Minnesota, David’s family was located in Lincoln, Nebraska, so for most of our lives, we had little contact. Despite that, my siblings and I cherished him as our cousin. He was 6 months older than I was. One summer during our mid-teen years, Joey came up to Minnesota to spend several weeks with my grandmother, his “Aunt Edna”. After that, we wanted to keep him, but at summer’s end, he had to return home for school. He left us with many memories of his companionship, wit, and smiles. One of the most memorable times for me involved a ride on a Ferris wheel at our town’s annual carnival. I think I was reluctant to ride, but with a challenge from my “loving cousin Joey”, I decided I’d be safe. Yes, I survived, but Joey decided he’d have his best fun when our ride happened to get stuck toward the top of the wheel. I’m sure I greatly developed my screaming voice while Joe, with a smile all the while, rocked our seat back and forth as much as possible. My opportunity to get him to panic involved bringing him to our church prayer meeting where we teenagers had our own prayer circle, where, yes, everyone was expected to offer a prayer. With some furious whispering and elbowing, Joey asked me for help, saying “I don’t know what to do! You have to tell me what to say!” I can’t really remember if I helped him out or not! Losing Joe to the VietNam war where he was doing his duty as a hospital corpsman at only age 19, left our family missing a cherished member that could never be replaced. I still miss him more than 50 years later. There’s a hole in our world where you used to be Joey!
David (Joey) was the adopted son of my grandmother’s youngest brother. While most of the family lived in northern Minnesota, David’s family was located in Lincoln, Nebraska, so for most of our lives, we had little contact. Despite that, my siblings and I cherished him as our cousin. He was 6 months older than I was. One summer during our mid-teen years, Joey came up to Minnesota to spend several weeks with my grandmother, his “Aunt Edna”. After that, we wanted to keep him, but at summer’s end, he had to return home for school. He left us with many memories of his companionship, wit, and smiles. One of the most memorable times for me involved a ride on a Ferris wheel at our town’s annual carnival. I think I was reluctant to ride, but with a challenge from my “loving cousin Joey”, I decided I’d be safe. Yes, I survived, but Joey decided he’d have his best fun when our ride happened to get stuck toward the top of the wheel. I’m sure I greatly developed my screaming voice while Joe, with a smile all the while, rocked our seat back and forth as much as possible. My opportunity to get him to panic involved bringing him to our church prayer meeting where we teenagers had our own prayer circle, where, yes, everyone was expected to offer a prayer. With some furious whispering and elbowing, Joey asked me for help, saying “I don’t know what to do! You have to tell me what to say!” I can’t really remember if I helped him out or not! Losing Joe to the VietNam war where he was doing his duty as a hospital corpsman at only age 19, left our family missing a cherished member that could never be replaced. I still miss him more than 50 years later. There’s a hole in our world where you used to be Joey!