My brother passed away on April 29, 2024. He was an amazing human and I miss him dreadfully.

I recall how we were talking about dying and our final wishes one day not too long before he passed actually.

I told him I wanted to be cremated so the bugs wouldn't eat me. He strongly asserted he wanted to be buried. 

I asked him why he was so set on burial vs. cremation. He said cremation was like burning in hell.

So it is with much shame and heartbreak that I couldn't honor this desire because I am broke. 

Sadly, Alvin was cremated in May 2024 at Aspen Mortuary in Lakewood, Colorado. 

He now sits on my desk. A reminder of a promise unkept.

Yesterday, this really happened, quite out of the blue, I received a call from Olinger Hampden Memorial Gardens here in Denver Colorado. Most of my family rests there.

I was informed my grandma had prepaid for a vault in my name that can hold up to three people.  WHAT!?!? Amazing!

Of course, I still have to cover prep. and internment fees but I can now, with help, honor Alvin's final wish. Well darn close. 

Alvin left my apartment at 9:01 a.m. that Monday. I recall as he was running late. I was rushing him. As he hurried out my apartment door he was saying, "I love you. I love you. Read John 3:16! Don't forget John 3:16!" 

"I will." I yelled to him from my room  "I promise."  I remember thinking, ‘I don't have to read it. I know that verse by heart.’ It was the first verse we learned in Sunday School. A final I love you back and forth and he was gone.

Just a regular day. 

Since that afternoon I have read and re-read that verse numerous times.

He was an amazingly sweet person who knew the value of love and loyalty.

He saw so little of this in his own life. I was and remain amazed at how easy it appeared to be for him to give these gifts to others. 

I wish you could have experienced him. He was my best friend and loyal supporter always. 

I miss him. You would too if you had known him.

Please help me make his final wish count.

Thank you.