On August 19th I lost my one and only baby brother. He was 28 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. To me, he was the better one of us. He could walk into a room and smile and the whole room would light up.

He was always the persistent one too... For example, at the tender age of 14 my dad took him up to Ohio to a skydiving school. Dad wanted Ned to watch him jump out of a perfectly good airplane... but Ned didn't want any of that... he wanted to jump.

Now dad is not an easy pushover, but Ned wore him out asking "Can I jump?" , "Can I jump?","Can I jump?".

Dad finally said, "Son they won't let you your too young."

Ned retorted, "Tell them I'm 18."

Finally Dad came up with a foolproof plan in his head and said, "You can't pass for 18, but I tell ya what, I'll say your 16 if they say it is ok then you can jump." Dad just KNEW they wouldn't let a 16 year old jump.

Well, when dad was filling out paper work My baby brother asked the people running the skydiving school... "Can I jump?" the lady behind the counter asked "How old are you?"

"Sixteen" replied Ned...

Quickly the lady asked, "When is your birthday?"

Without hesitation Ned gave her a fake birthday just like it was second nature...

"Well then, all your father has to do is sign a release form and you can jump."

Ned gave dad a big grin and a look that said "Old man I got ya!"

Dad gave his word that he would sign.... so he knew that he was screwed.

Dad was scared to death the rest of the day but he paid a cameraman to follow my brother out of the plane... Ned did everything perfect and had a very soft landing... Dad ran up to him and asked... "what did you thing ol' boy?"

Ned replied, "It was pretty fun... but it sure didn't last long enough..."


No Ned... it sure didn't last long enough...

My brother ended his own life Sunday August 19th. He was born June 17,1979. He left many things behind undone, unsaid. One thing though... I spoke with him the Saturday before...

On August 19th I lost my one and only baby brother. He was 28 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. To me, he was the better one of us. He could walk into a room and smile and the whole room would light up.

He was always the persistent one too... For example, at the tender age of 14 my dad took him up to Ohio to a skydiving school. Dad wanted Ned to watch him jump out of a perfectly good airplane... but Ned didn't want any of that... he wanted to jump.

Now dad is not an easy pushover, but Ned wore him out asking "Can I jump?" , "Can I jump?","Can I jump?".

Dad finally said, "Son they won't let you your too young."

Ned retorted, "Tell them I'm 18."

Finally Dad came up with a foolproof plan in his head and said, "You can't pass for 18, but I tell ya what, I'll say your 16 if they say it is ok then you can jump." Dad just KNEW they wouldn't let a 16 year old jump.

Well, when dad was filling out paper work My baby brother asked the people running the skydiving school... "Can I jump?" the lady behind the counter asked "How old are you?"

"Sixteen" replied Ned...

Quickly the lady asked, "When is your birthday?"

Without hesitation Ned gave her a fake birthday just like it was second nature...

"Well then, all your father has to do is sign a release form and you can jump."

Ned gave dad a big grin and a look that said "Old man I got ya!"

Dad gave his word that he would sign.... so he knew that he was screwed.

Dad was scared to death the rest of the day but he paid a cameraman to follow my brother out of the plane... Ned did everything perfect and had a very soft landing... Dad ran up to him and asked... "what did you thing ol' boy?"

Ned replied, "It was pretty fun... but it sure didn't last long enough..."


No Ned... it sure didn't last long enough...

My brother ended his own life Sunday August 19th. He was born June 17,1979. He left many things behind undone, unsaid. One thing though... I spoke with him the Saturday before it happened. I told him that I loved him and he told me the same... more than some people get in this situation...

Thanks for my friends for their prayers and their support, from a call, to finding people Ned grew up with, to showing up at the funeral I couldn't ask for better friends.

But most importantly, thanks goes to Tabitha, she has been my rock through all of this... I am very blessed to have her in my life. She did so many things to make the funeral what Ned would have wanted. Thank you baby...

For those that I'm friends with on here... that is the reason I haven't been online...