I am sure that Tom Brokaw would not mind that I borrowed the title of his book, “The Greatest Generation” for this post. If you haven’t read this, you really should. Willie and all of our parents made this country what it is today and that is what Brokaw’s book is about. When we lost Willie, it made the 13 of us remaining cousins the older generation now. When Richie started the blog back in 2007, it was about our parents, grandparents, great aunts and uncles….all gone to their eternal reward. I sincerely hope that as life goes on, our kids will have some interest in all of this family history. I was unable to attend Willie’s funeral service, but I understand from Rich and Barb that they gave him a good ‘Irish’ send off over a couple of days. You know Willie was up there looking down and saying “I want a shot and a beer”! Everytime Rick and I came to Erie, we would go see him. One time it was near his birthday. We stopped and got him a cake (Boston Creme Pie) and a box of chocolates from Steffanelli's. He was like a little kid at Christmas. Willie, as all the other aunts and uncles, loved us all…..a very sentimental man. When we had our reunion in 2006, I remember Willie standing and watching the slide show with tears in his eyes. I am sure he was flooded with wonderful memories. I also remember about 10 years ago (he would have been about 83 or 84) he sent me an email at work….”Remember, when life hands you a lemon, ask for tequila and salt and make a margarita!” I burst out laughing….my co-workers thought his comment was funny, but were even more amazed that at his age he was able to use a computer. When Lucille died, Nancy and I took Willie back to the St Joseph Apartments after the luncheon. I teased him about being the Lithuanian patriach of this Irish family. He got the biggest kick out of that. God Bless and rest in peace to the last of our Greatest Generation.
