My big brother died 2 years ago today…

I miss him terribly…

Here is my message for him that I read at his funeral:

Doug was called Maurice for by his immediate family for 20 plus years before we started calling him Doug. So, in my sharing you will hear me refer to him as Maurice and Doug.

From Mom
A baby boy born on July 14 weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces. I don’t know where the time went- Kindergarten, Boy Scouts (I was a den mother and Maurice earned the honor of Eagle Scout), Trumpet lessons, the National Museum of Art (At least a dozen visits in a 2-year period), the Navy and being awakened by Maurice at 3 and 4:00 am to watch eclipses through his telescope.
A baby sister was born when Maurice was 6 years old. He was very attentive to her, and she loved him very much. One year at Bullis (a private school for boys). High School and working.
I remember at dinner one evening Maurice announced he was looking for a job as a trash man. I quickly glanced at my mother hoping she would not make a comment. I quickly responded, “in New York trash collector’s salaries are higher than teachers”. He did get a job as a trash man, it didn’t last very long. He couldn’t stand getting dirty and working in all kinds of weather.
Maurice heard about a housing project being built which was near our house. He went to the site, talked with the boss and apprenticed himself to the electrician the plumber and the carpenter. He volunteered his services to them. It was not long before he shared with the family he was going to be a carpenter. The family was happy about his decision.

From Dad
I am extremely grateful to God for the many gifts He provided Maurice. Yes, gifts that provided him with the ability to become a true craftsman!

From Doug’s Little Sister (Me)
From a young age my brother was very curious about how things worked. Our biological Father told me about the time when Maurice was little and put a screw driver through our Father’s car radiator. Or the time our Father searched for a toy that his inquisitive son would not be able to disassemble. He found a truck called “big bruiser” and was guaranteed that a child would not be able to get it apart. It took less than a few hours and Maurice had it in pieces.
I remember him lying on the sidewalk in front of our house watching the jumping spiders. My mother will tell you how he identified the spiders and insects, telling her which ones were helpful to her garden and not allowing her to kill them. He would read about everything he was interested in.
I have fond memories of going to the Montgomery County Model Air Park so he could fly the model air planes and launch the rockets he had built. He also built model cars that he raced up the street in front of our house. We lived at the end of a long cul-de-sac so there was very minimal traffic. One of those model cars ran on a line that Doug had running up the road. I remember the trash man who we had for years, would be so careful to avoid interrupting my brother’s rig for the car. The man would modify his driving route and get out and talk to Doug and watch the car operate. He spent time out of his day with my brother.

My mother mentioned how she spent many a Sunday afternoon at the National Museum of Art because my brother loved it there. She would take a book and read on a bench while he looked at the displays and talked to the security staff. They were very familiar with him.

My big brother played some practical jokes on me. The most memorable was the ghost he rigged up in our utility room. When I opened the door, it came skidding down a piece of fishing line toward me and startled the heck out of me. I was the typical little sister who got on his nerves. One time I had annoyed him so and he chased me around the house with a lit blow torch. Unfortunately for him, Mom and Dad had recently left the house and saw the event from the road below our house and came back immediately.
When I was 16 my brother took me out driving in his VW bug in the snow. He made me do donuts in an empty parking lot, slam on the brakes and purposely skid so that I would know how to handle the car. These lessons have saved me from having accidents many times in real life driving situations. He forced me to complete a tune up on my car. I had asked him to help me do a tune up and he sent me to the auto parts store with a list of things to buy. When I returned, he showed me where all the parts went, showed me the tool to use and said, “see ya” and left. I did what he said and felt a sense of accomplishment when I was finished. He checked my work when he returned and that was the start of me tackling many auto repairs, household repairs, building projects and much more. My mother taught me that if I could read I could cook, my brother took that further in helping me see that if I could read and followed directions I could do anything.

My brother rode motorcycles, snowshoed, kayaked, rock climbed and repelled, even had his own hang glider. He was adventurous, intelligent, kind, friendly, creative, ambitious, and from where I sit he did not accept any limitations that life threw his way. He found a way around and through with his knowledge and creativity. When he did not know the answer to something, he researched at the library, online and by talking to people with experience in that particular field.

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to have such wonderful brother who I love dearly. Grateful that in the past 3 years he and I talked about life, death…we had conversations we had not had before.

My brother is not suffering anymore…
He is not physically present anymore…but I feel him everywhere now.

He is with us in spirit always…until we meet again…