On Sunday, November 29, 2009, I attended a Victor Senior Citizen Club meeting at Micky Finn’s Restaurant, where I first saw Beverly walking into the Club.  She sat down next to me at a table near the fireplace and her knee touched my leg. I was expecting a redhead, but she was a blonde (at the time). Beverly said “hello”, I said “hello”, then she ignored me and turned to the other three women who were also sitting at the table.  A few minutes later we started talking and I knew right then and there I wanted to marry her. I proceeded to tell her about my job in the Navy, but she only seemed to think that I was trying to impress her. At that point, I pulled out my phone, called my sister, Lynda, who is an ordained Methodist minister. Beverly asked Lynda if she knew who I was and was told “yes, he’s my brother”. Beverly then asked Lynda to confirm my career, which Lynda most certainly did.  After the meeting, we stayed for a meal and we shared a Portabella mushroom and a Coke, as that was the only cash we had on us at the time.

The next Sunday, at another meeting, I asked Beverly to marry me and she “yes”, and we have been joined at the hip since. We soon learned that by marriage we each acquired a new family. Upon meeting our new families, we quickly realized that the blended family was a blessing.

Throughout our almost 16 years together, we traveled many times throughout the U.S. and moved several times, starting in Canandaigua and ending up in Penfield.

We soon found out that we had many things in common: we both loved talking to people and meeting new people, who often became best friends, and we enjoyed board games and card games, where she frequently proved to be the better player. The highlight of our marriage was having family times with the “kids”, especially Thanksgiving, where Beverly’s son, Keith, Keith’s husband, Miles, and Pam, Beverly’s niece, put on a spectacular display of culinary delight.

For Beverly’s last days at Serenity House in Victor, her very close friend, Cheryl Smith, who is a volunteer there, and all the other volunteers treated Beverly as family and made her final days as comfortable as possible with lots of love and respect. Thank you to the volunteers at Serenity House for all they did for Beverly and our family.

Because of Beverly’s beliefs, she chose to donate her body to science at the University of Rochester. Please consider a donation to Serenity House in Victor, New York in Beverly’s name.