dberry's grandneice

Dear soccermom: Yes, my Uncle Dan and I used to exchange e-mails regularly and he often wrote about this board. The one job he gave me was to let you all know when he passed away. I assured him that I would. Thanks to you all for offerring him the support he so obviously needed! Sara

Unfortunately, Uncle Dan was more alone than I had hoped. I live more than six hours away and have two VERY loud toddlers...we didn't see him too often, and when we did, he could only stand the chaos in small doses. My Great Aunt Irena (Dan's brother's widow) carried the brunt of the caretaking. She lives 45 minutes from Uncle Dan, and she stayed with him for the last few weeks. My mother, Dan's neice, was supposed to be there more than she was. She lives in FL, and was up here visiting Uncle Dan when Hurricane Charley landed a few miles north of her home. So she went home to see what the damage was, and she was on her way back up north to IL when Uncle Dan died. Wherever he is, I am positive he's still ticked off about that....

Hello to everyone who has been concerned about my Great Uncle Dan Berry. I want to thank you and to let you know that Uncle Dan has embarked upon his next grand journey....he passed away last evening at his home, which is where he wanted to be. He had spent the last couple of weeks sleeping mostly, with help from his bottle of morphine. (Nectar of the Gods, I believe he called it. ) At any rate, while I miss him already and am saddened because I know he wasn't ready to go just yet, I am happy that his suffering wasn't made to go on and on. As a side note, Uncle Dan died on August 21st, which is the birthday of his only sister. (She committed suicide some 35+ years ago, and would have been my grandmother--had we ever met. I just always wonder about some great cosmic significance when things like that happen.)