Chris's Funeral

Chris’s Funeral Remarks

Walden NY

Orange County Chopper

Steve Moreau

Family is a big part of our life

Sunday’s and holidays were spent with extended family

Normal Sunday for us was aunts uncles and all the activities that come with being together

Small town 4 seasons 5280 people was the sign we passed every day

4 of us kids, the three of us are for short conversation, 11 months apart in birth; October, September and August Birthdays.

We were close. We shared stuff.

Chris, being the third son, really wanted attention and some of the events he created for attention, well, lets say they are memorable.

Bang his head on all 15 stairs when sent to his room

Had an anger problem, friends knew how to push his buttons

In light of current diagnosis, maybe a little ADHD, but really he was smart, and bored with the routine

We all carried very small statures. My sophomore year of high school, I wrestled a tournament at 91 lbs.

That might have caused us to receive a few jabs, but Chris didn’t take them well.

Police came to house at least twice Pause Take a breath

His anger would get out of hand from time to time

Broke my model car Pause Take a breath

Chased Bobby throughout our entire town

There was a park a the end of our street. We spent a ton of hours/days there. They held a summer program for kids that lasted from 9-Noon

Bobby won a 10 speed bike and man that was a real treat.

One Saturday, we were playing football, and Chris was a kid that could lose it at any time, friends knew it, and at times we used it to our advantage. We had a trick play, we had to set it up. On first down, Chris would run out and scream I’m open I’m open, and i would not throw him the ball. He would scream at me, tell me I’m a horrible quarterback put on a show. On second down we would repeat and he would get louder. On third down he would leave the huddle, say something mean to me and go stand in bounds on the side line with his arms folded stating he would never play again!

We would run the play right, Chris was on the left, I’d throw the ball across the field where he was standing all alone, TOUCHDOWN! Worked every time!

On one occasion he wasn’t playing anymore. On that day, he was mad, and as he could do, he took it out on us in a meaningful way. He went over to Bobby’s bike and he jumped up and down on the back rim then the front rim and bent them so badly, Bobby had to carry the bike home! Pause, Take your breath.

In 1982 we left Walden to move to Springfield MO.

On the day we left town we walked our street and said goodbye to our friends, one of the kids he never agreed with came by...

Met new people including my wife, pushed her off the lunch bench one day

Chris met Michelle

Joined the wrestling team, lost a match because a kid claimed he was hurt, was awarded a point for escape and Chris lost the match

Next week in Waynesville wrestling a tournament, he wrapped a kid up and the kid said I’m hurt, and Chris said “not yet your not.”

That kid left the mat, arrived at the army hospital Ft Leonardwood, and our uncle Lynn, here today, was attending and reported to us the story and that Chris had separated his sternum!

Michelle had a profound effect on Chris. Inviting him to church, not really a part of our past, he was chasing her, and to do so, he had to follow her to church.

When Chris reported a single pollup Pause, Take a breath

When Chris reported a tumor Pause take a breath

When the phone rang and mom’s number came up but it was her friend reporting stage 4 cancer because mom couldnt talk Pause, take a breath

When the Dr. reported they had done all they could do and there was nothing left to do Pause take a breath

Now here we’re today and we have all paused our lives to be together, to celebrate, to take a breath, celebrate. Not 5 of us, not 10 of us, not a few family members that could put up with him, but hundreds of you.

What changed?

Why did I tell you about Chris’s childhood in detail?

Most of you here know Chris as he is today, but not where he came from. Not geographically, but spiritually. The friends we had as children, cant believe what he became. They had him marked for prison! We tried to kill him a time or two!

It is not uncommon to connect to a friend of old and when they ask about each of us, they are most surprised about Chris.

A very loving family guided him and coached him and walked with him, but what God did in his heart, changed him for an eternity.

I’m going to let his new friends tell you about his new life.

Russ

David March