Leonard Gokey

I LOVE YOU!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 AND MISS YOU!!!!!!!!! HAVE FUN IN HEAVEN!!!!!!!
<3 LOVE NICOLE!!!!!!!

Hi Grandpa. All my favorite memories have you in it. It meant so much to all of us kids that you were always there for our special occasions...you and Grandma always made sure that you were there (even though it was such a long drive) for every one of our first communions, confirmations, graduations, and etc. Thanks Grandpa for caring so much and for being such a great grandfather.

Well Dad another Holiday Season past and a New Year begun ,  Missed you alot as I am sure all of us did. I know how you use to enjoy the big dinners and the family all together.  One of the things that you also liked was the television programs year in review. and the Parades, and watching the ball drop in Times Square.

TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN DAD'S 82 BIRTHDAY . IT WAS DIFFICULT TO GO THROUGH THE DAY WITHOUT HIM ON MY MIND , IT MADE ME THINK OF ALL THOSE BIRTHDAYS THAT HE WAS HERE WITH US AND WE WERE ABLE TO CELEBRATE THEM WITH HIM. WHEN DAD TURNED  50TH HE WAS STILL WORKING IN SARANAC LAKE AND MOM HAD HIS FAVORITE  DINNER OF   BROILED  STEAKS WITH ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS ON SATURDAY NIGHT WHEN HE HAD RETURNED HOME FROM WORK WE ALL HAD DINNER AT HOME WITH HIM , AFTER DINNER MOM AND DAD WENT UP TO THE BRASS RAIL TO CELEBRATE , IT WAS JUST A YEAR LATER THAT AUNT STELLA WOULD LOOSE HER RESTURANT " THE BRASS RAIL " TO A DEVASTATING FIRE.   FOR A  HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY WE HAD A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR HIM THAT WAS HELD AT LEN'S CAMP. DAD WAS LURED TO THE CAMP BY A PHONE CALL TELLING HIM THAT THERE WAS A PLUMBING PROBLEM THERE AND HE NEEDED TO GO UP AND CHECK ON IT. WHEN HE ARRIVED ALL OF THE FAMILY WAS BEHIND THE DOOR SUPRISE HIM AND TO CELEBRATE HIS DAY. THROUGH THE YEARS DAD HAD MANY TIMES WHERE HE CELEBRATED MILESTONES AND GOOD TIMES WITH HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, HE ENJOYED THESE TIMES AND WE ALL ENJOYED BEING WITH HIM.  IT DOSN'T SEEM POSSIBLE THAT ITS BEEN ALL OF TWO YEARS SINCE HE AND MOM CELEBRATED HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY WITH US HERE IN FLORIDA , WE ALL WENT TO A WELL KNOWN STEAK HOUSE " SAM SELTZER'S " . DAD ENJOYED A BIG CUT OF PRIME RIB WITH SAUTEED MUSHROOMS AND ONIONS , ONE OF HIS FAVORITES.  IT SEEMS LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY THAT WE SAW THAT SMILE ACROSS THE TABLE.  I SUPPOSE THAT EACH AND EVERY YEAR I WILL REMEMBER THESE TIMES AND STILL IT WILL SEEM LIKE YESTERDAY.  IT IS SOMETHING THAT DAD GAVE TO US ON HIS CELEBRATIONS , HIS HUGE SMILE AND ALL THE MEMORIES LEFT US ALL WITH A HUGE WEALTH OF MEMORIES THAT WILL KEEP HIM HERE CLOSE TO US.  TODAY I WENT TO A MASS THAT WAS IN DAD'S MEMORY , I CALLED MOM AND SHE HAD GONE TO CHURCH WITH MARGE AND THEN THE TWO OF THEM PAID A VISIT TO AUNT KITTY , MOM KEPT HER DAY BUSY AND SHE AND MARGE HAD LUNCH TOGETHER .

I WORRIED HOW SHE WOULD MAKE IT THROUGH THE DAY AND WHEN I CALLED HER TO SAY GOOD NIGHT TO HER SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE HAD A GOOD DAY AND THAT IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL ONE , I KNEW THEN THAT HER GUARDIAN ANGEL WATCHED OVER HER AND WAS WITH HER THROUGH-OUT THE DAY.  MOM IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST WOMEN THAT I KNOW , HER FAITH HAS BEEN THE GLUE THAT HAS HELD HER LIFE AND HER FAMILY TOGETHER, SHE IS TRUELY AMAZING .  I DON'T THINK THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH ANY BETTER PARENTS THAN WHAT I WAS.   I HOPE THAT IN HEAVEN TODAY THERE WAS A CELEBRATION AND A FEAST , AT THAT TABLE WAS GRAMMA AND GRAMPA GOKEY,

ROBERT, HOWARD, STELLA, ELSIE AND ALL OF THE REST OF OUR FAMILY THAT ARE THERE IN HEAVEN , ALL OF THEM ENJOYING EACH OTHERS COMPANY , AND DAD HAVING HIS FILL OF HIS FAVORITE FOOD.     HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD ! 

Its Thanksgiving Day  ,and I just finished having dinner with my family.  Linda has worked the last two days in the kitchen making pies and cheescake for the finishing touches to the huge traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  It reminds me of the way our house was when I was a kid , with Mom working for days to create a huge feast that we would all gather together around the table on Thanksgiving Day. Then there were those times that we would go to Gramma  and Grampa Gokey's for Thanksgiving Dinner.... it was just a short trip , but I remember how we would all dress up and walk over to Gram and Gramps and before we could even get inside the front door we would meet with half dozen or more relatives , Aunts and Uncles and cousins.  They were wall to wall ,on the front porch, in the entry , in the staircase , livingroom , and in the Kitchen . There would be two to three Aunts and Gramma Gokey in the kitchen , she would be standing in the center of the kitchen with a dress that looked like she had just come from church and over her dress she would have an apron on that she always wore when working in the kitchen  Gram would greet us with a big smile and a hug and then warn us... to stay away from the stove , out of the kitchen and don't play in the staircase.  After recieving hugs and kisses from what seem to be hundreds of aunts, we would make our way out to the porch and see our cousins , they had usually endured the same greeting we had. There was so much noise in the air from all the conversations going on in each room,  it was as though us kids had become invisible and for a short while.  The grown ups were engaged in thier conversations and catching up , Then Gram would ring her bell that dinner was on the table .  Those times will never leave me , it was Thanksgiving Day ...we were all together and thats what mattered .  Unfortunately . it is a picture that cannot last forever and sooner or later time catches up and we fiind ourselves wishing that somehow we could go back or get back what we now realize what we lost.  The one thing that does remain is those memories of all those years that we were all together and in one place , they still are here.....and it is up to us to keep them alive and share them with our families that we are sitting down to our Thanksgiving feast with this year.  when saying the Grace before we ate this year I realized that there is so much that we have to be Thankful for , each other and all those that given us the wealth of memories that we can share with our loved ones today.  Dad !Thank You so much for all the memories that you have left me to share.