He Loved to Live...

Gene loved to live and got every bit of life out of each breathe. He was grandfather, dad, husband, adventurer, friend, and a man who cherished the life each breathe gave him. Whether he was snow tubing with family in Pennsylvania, taking the grandchildren to Disney World, eating German chocolate cake, listening to music, being a clown at a children camp, or cave diving with his son, Gene loved to share life with everyone in his family. Gene was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, and no one realized then how painful it would be to watch this horrid disease slowly take his life away. At first it was slow; instability in his walking, then weakness in his limbs, and then a wheelchair, and a hoyer lift. Life became restricted, but Gene kept taking deep breathes and getting all the life out of each one. Much of the pain everyone felt in his final days was knowing that he did not want to give up the people he loved; the life he loved. Finally on January 28, 2013, Gene drew the last bit of life out his final breathes. He looked up and grabbed one more breathe and tasted life here one more time and then he was gone. Gene loved to live, and he got every bit of life out of each breathe. We who are blessed to know Gene must now get every bit of life out of each breathe, and by doing that we honor the Gene; who loved to live.