Julie Piane
I have so many great memories of my Uncle Tom. It’s to hard to pick one to share. He and my dad were very close, and he was at my house quite a bit when I was a kid. He was that fun Uncle that we all loved having around, never backing down from joining us in the yard and playing whatever game we were into. One memory that has always stayed with me is of his dog, I believe its name was Nicki. He loved that dog more than anything. It was so well trained, if we were in the yard playing catch with Nicki and the ball went in the road, Nicki would only go to the gutter and just stop, never going into that road. It was quite impressive. I’d say about 20 years later, I brought that dog up to Uncle Tom, thinking it was a good memory. Uncle Tom teared up and told me how much he still missed that dog and he could never own another dog again. I just remember that moment, because it just summed up what a kind, sensitive, and caring soul uncle Tom was. Anyone who met him, was better off for knowing him.