You Know My Brother Tim Will Be There!
My oldest brother, Tim Connell, passed away suddenly last week, the victim of a catastrophic stroke with hemorrhaging. Tim had just turned 61, and filed his retirement papers with Verizon the day before the stroke. Tim happily worked for the past few decades as a Customer Support Technician with Verizon, but his daughter Alicia just had a beautiful baby girl, Karina, and Tim wanted to spend some quality time with his first grand child. Life can be so cruel at times.
A blog like this shows the true beauty of the internet. I can write about my brother, and some may read it, and most won't, but it lets me express my feelings. Tim was 1 of 9 Connell siblings, 6 boys and 3 girls. I can't tell him now, but I loved Tim a whole bunch. He was kind, generous, funny, loving, a great brother and an even better husband and Dad, and Tim was my Rock and Roll idol. I am truly going to miss him.
Tim always shared his time and his stuff with his brothers and sisters. He was always taking us to ball games, movies, putt putt, coin shows, or whatever was fun at the time. But it was Rock n Roll that Tim shared with me that I will always cherish most. Tim always had the greatest collection of music I had ever seen, and let us younger siblings listen and enjoy it too. I grew up listening to his favorites, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the list can go on forever, and they all became my favorites. Tim was also the Concert King. He saw everybody, known and unknown. He loved and lived Rock N Roll to the end. Tim took me to my first concert back in the early 70s, and we went to hundreds more over the next decades. He called me just a couple days before the stroke to offer me a ticket to a Huey Lewis show, that I declined, but now wish I had gone, just so I had one more time with him to remember.
Tim knew so much about Rock n Roll that he should have been a DJ, and would have been a great one. Those who knew Tim, know what a friendly, caring and generous guy he was, and they will miss him too. Tim will be waked tomorrow, Thursday, July 24, at the Dennis Sweeney Funeral Home in Quincy from 4 to 8 pm, where Rock n Roll will be part of the theme. Tim's funeral mass will be Friday morning at 10 a.m. at St. Ann's Church in Quincy. Tim is survived by his loving wife Karen, his step son Domenic, step daughter Candace, his daughter Alicia, her husband Steve, and the cutest grand daughter ever, Karina, his Mom, Theresa, and all his brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids, too many to name here. If you knew Tim, drop by and say good bye to Tim, as he goes off to Rock n Roll Heaven. Before he passed, I told Tim to talk to Jimi Hendrix first, since he has been there the longest, and knows the lay of the land. Rock on Tim, one more time for me!
Mike, thank you for sharing. What you wrote is very heartfelt and I hope you continue to write. You brought back memories of my two brothers who have passed and I share my tears with you. I'm so sorry for your loss. From one who has lost a sibling to another, please let me know if I can be of any help to you or your family, I can appreciate what you are all going through.
ReplyDeleteThank you Frank, means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteI am truly sorry for your loss. Though I never met Tim, I can see that he lived his life with passion and was a lot of fun to be with. May God rest his soul and send some comfort to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Earle, your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
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