04/16/2024
My dad passed away in Hospice Care @ The Kavvanaugh House last night of liver failure ~ surrounded by so many people that loved him . Priests came to give him his last rights… we said the rosary together… played Bucelli for him & even called the littles for one last goodbye phone call. 💔
To know him was to love him …. Or know his spicy Italian side & choose to fear him lol.
We were in the media business together for over 20 years…. He was my dad but also my boss @ times & a mentor…. Later a co-hort. He always had his ways… wanted you to want his way … but loved you through it all.
A proud dad and especially grandpa (Bumpy as my kids named him). As memories literally flash before my eyes like a movie reel , combined with the tears today…. I know my resiliencey, street smarts, love for my Italian heritage & food … maybe wine too… came from him.
The last few years were hard, family dynamics… but when returning to his bed side after multiple hospital stays & literally being there with just my siblings… one night we “broke him out of Methodist” to get him via ambulance to Mercy for better care. As my brother Tony grabs the wheel chair & heads towards the front door where his ambulance awaited his transfer - I was put in charge of ”handling the nurses”. I arrive downstairs … to check on him & he looks me dead in the face & says: “You got the heart of a lion kid”🥹. Yeah… I do.
You may have been tough dad but you loved just as hard & I owe that lioness partially to you. Go fly in peace now… tell everyone hello & I know you’ll be close by…. Confirmed by the encounters of your Hospice nurse Sandy. That story I’ll save for another day. I love you dad- you will be missed by many! 🫶🏻 Your one & only …daughter “Lisa”
