Spartan Daily

An earnest farewell

Nick Celario is the Spartan Daily Sports Editor.

A neighbor of mine recently passed away.

He and his wife have lived next door to my family for a large majority of my life – about 20 years.

My parents became good friends with them, often inviting them into our house and vice versa.

My mother and his wife often traded fruits that grew in our backyards.

Even though they've built a rapport, I have not developed as close of a connection with my neighbor.

Actually, I didn’t have much of a relationship at all with him.

I cannot remember if we’ve ever spoken a word to each other.

I don’t think we have even exchanged a passing nod.

The only thing I know about him is he was an accountant and that’s because he helped my family with our taxes every year.

It saddens me that I have not taken the time to at least have a short conversation with him.

But this is what I do know about him – my family had great respect for him and he was kind to us.

If that was all I knew about him, it is enough for me to know that he was a good man.

My family openly wept for him at his funeral.

Though I was mournful, I didn’t cry so easily.

That was until I saw his widow.

I had more of a relationship with her than her husband.

I would sometimes see her at the front of their house as I either arrived home or as I was leaving.

I’d wave to her and she would wave back.

She and her husband would sometimes eat at the restaurant I work at and we would exchange a few words.

Every once in a while, she would tell me when she and her husband ate there and say that they looked for me.

She once asked about my ambitions and what I was studying in college.

I could tell she was sincerely interested.

She too was very kind to us.

I heard her piercing cries as she grieved and I cringed as she wept.

Then I closed my eyes as I was unsuccessfully trying to hold back tears.

Once I collected myself, I took a look at the people around me.

After they got over the initial feeling of sorrow, everyone accepted each other's embrace and struck up light conversation with one another.

For some of them, it seemed like they hadn’t seen each other in months, maybe even years.

The same thing happened to me when I saw a friend at the funeral that I hadn’t seen in quite some time.

I came to find out he is my neighbor’s grandson.

Afterwards, I found out more about my friend's grandfather – he was the eldest of six siblings, was the only member of his family to graduate high school, was in the Philippine Army, was married to his wife for 57 years, and had seven sons for whom he and his wife uprooted their life in the Philippines and moved to America.

Most importantly, judging from the large amount of people who attended the service, I learned he had a large family and several friends including my family, all of whom he loved and loved him back.

I now assuredly know he was a good man.

R.I.P. Bruno Delavega.