Memories from One of John's Best Buds

One of John's best buds from his days in Belgium was Keith. Starting in the 7th Grade, Keith and John would form a life long bond which included JW serving as Keith's Best Man at his wedding.

Recently, Keith was kind enough to share some sentiments as well as photos of John, not only from Keith's wedding, but from the time when Keith and his family visited us in beautiful Southern Maryland and JW introduced Keith's son to the intricacies of crabbing. Also included is a photo of JW and Keith from their times in Belgium.

Warm memories -- part of JW's continuing legacy.

Click on the photo above in order to enlarge, as well as the album below in order to see the complete set of pictures.

Thank you for sharing, Keith.

Keith & JW

As Always -- It's the Smile

Pictures of JW from the Fourth and Seventh grades courtesy of John's classmate and John's Mom's fellow teacher, Jen. (Click on pictures to enlarge).These pictures and the warm memories they bring back are, of course, from Mother Catherine Spalding School where John's legacy (and his smile) continues through the Technology Fund established in his memory.

Music and the Circle of Life

Of all the human experiences, listening to and enjoying music can be the most "soulful," an experience which differentiates humans from all of God's other creatures.

In that regard, it was only after his death that we learned of John's love of the Dave Mathews Band (DMB) and how he was the one to introduce his little brother Mike to their music. Since then, Mike & Gina have become veritable DMB groupies. The Saturday before last, after attending a DMB concert the night before, Mike and Gina took John's Mom & Dad to their first Dave Matthews Band concert at the Nissan Pavilion in Northern Virginia. It proved to be a truly memorable experience.

It was there, while tailgating in the parking lot before the concert, that Mike pulled out a bottle of champagne. While Mom thought that they were about to offer a toast to buying a new house, Dad knew intuitively what the toast was for -- to us becoming grandparents for the first time.

The joy of realizing that Mike and Gina were to become parents themselves was overwhelming. And in a very special way, it was entirely appropriate to learn of this extraordinarily happy news at a Dave Matthews Band concert -- a place where we were able to be in touch with JW's music loving soul. It is now also the place where we first realized that JW is about to become Uncle Johnny -- a role he will fulfill in the same extraordinary way he did as a son, brother, fiance, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend extraordinaire. For John's legacy continues to live on and he continues to touch the everyday lives of so many. And now, he will have the opportunity to touch the lives of future generations as well.

The circle of life continues.