This One's for You, Daddy

I want to thank everyone for your support and patience over the past couple of weeks while my sister and I handled all the obligatory arrangements surrounding my father's death. And now, life goes on and I'm back in the office.

I walked around the City Hall courtyard yesterday for some solace in the middle of the day and took this photo of one of the rose gardens. We never had rose gardens in the courtyard, surprisingly, until after the building reopened in summer 2007 after the three-year retrofit and restoration project.


This has always been one of my favorite photos of my father. It was 1954 and he was the executive officer on the USS Siboney. Most of the other photos I have of him in the Navy are when he was in dress uniform, but here he's in fatigues, taking a well-deserved break on this escort aircraft carrier.


I found this photo after he passed away. My mother had written "The day before you left" on the back. She must have sent it to him with a letter when he was out to sea.

And here they are later in life, about 10 years ago. After his career as a naval officer, my dad became a teacher and vice principal, and then he and my mother, also a teacher, retired and did a lot of volunteer work together.


Thanks for letting me share. Tomorrow I'll get back to the business of posting PIO- and city-related info on this blog.

Still Out, But Coming Up for Air

I rarely post anything about my personal life on this blog because its primary purpose is to explain the role of a PIO.

Allow me to make an exception.

My father, Dave Easley, passed away yesterday. He joined my mom, Alice, in Heaven and had a huge grin on his face at the very moment he left. I know they were reaching out to each other. It was a truly holy moment.

After my mom died suddenly and unexpectedly in January 2007, my dad never recovered. They had been married 60 years.

I have been coming down to San Diego just about every weekend to try to build my dad up, take him on excursions and try to keep him engaged in life.

But nobody could help him. Not his family, not his friends, not his church, not his doctors. Many, many times he said he just wanted to go be with my mom, and now they are reunited.

I am grateful for the love and support and kindness that so many have expressed to me this past week while my dad went from emergency room to ICU to Hospice. The rapid turn of events has been monumentally overwhelming.

I'll post more in the next few days. For now my sister and two brothers and I will be consumed with all the necessary details and process that must be dealt with at a time such as this.

Once again, please bear with me.