Loss of a brother at Christmas

This has been one of the hardest Christmas's for our family in years. On Christmas Eve, I got a call from my niece, who was in tears. She had come home from college to spend Christmas with her Dad, when she discovered his body. My brother Rick was a great guy. He loved to joke and tease, and would tilt his head back when he was laughing especially hard. We had seen him this fall at a bbq at another brother's house. He was in good spirits. The Friday after Thanksgiving, he had several of my brothers to his house in Grand Rapids to have pizza and play pool. They all talked about how they just hung out and had a nice time. It is just hard to take in that he is gone. My thoughts are there especially for my niece Andrea, who had to go through such a tragic event. My poor nephew Kevin was here in the Cities, and due to weather, it took him a while to get home. Please keep them both in your thoughts and prayers. We are waiting on final confirmation as to the cause of death, but it appears to have been a heart attack. He would have turned 55 on January 16th. We will be heading to my hometown of Hibbing on Saturday for Rick's memorial service.

Attached is a picture of Libby with her cousin Andrea from when Andrea was here this fall.



I will be updating my post with more Libby pics and stories in the next week.