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Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Although I'm not Joe's biological daughter, he was the only father I ever knew. My father died when I was very young, and for a while it was just my brother, my mom and myself. When he first came into my life, I was nervous, scared, excited, and happy all at the same time. We had our differences and rocky times like any father-daughter relationship. But, there were also times when we were very close. I may not have had the same kind of bond that my sisters (Jessy and Cathy) had with him, but I learned a lot from Joe. Some of those things helped change me from the shy, scared, helpless little girl I once was, to the confident young woman I have become. He taught me to be independent, tough and to work hard to reach my goals. I will always remember and love him for that, and I'm thankful he came into our lives. Not only did I learn a few things from him, I gained two beautiful sisters, another brother, a "Dad," and a whole other family that I'm looking forward to getting to know better.

On behalf of my family and myself, I'd like to thank all of our friends, family members, and everyone else who helped us with-in the past year. It was the support and help from those people (You know who you are) whom helped us get through this. However large or small the favor was, it made a difference to us.

I would just like to add Joe was not only a Veteran, he was also an avid fisherman, (although, both of his daughters could out-fish him. Little Jessy could upstage any man on a fishing boat I know. I guess he taught them well.) and enjoyed hunting, especially bow hunting. Even though his last name did not reflect it, he embraced his Irish heritage. He often spoke fondly of his mother's and his Aunt's cooking, and always looked forward to attending Irish festivals.

Sincerely,
Deborah Bennett
Dlildebb@Netscape.net