I met TJ in 1978. I had just moved back in with my Dad; a single parent household. He and Maureen had moved in down the street after recently getting married. He drove his Dodge 4wd truck up to the school bus stop, rolled down the window and asked “do any of you guys want to work?”, being a 14 year old with a paper route I

said to myself,”how hard could this be?”. Well I found out what hard work was all about. Keeping up with this “old man” was all I could do! T paid half of a year’s membership ($75) to Bob Baff’s Gym in Yorktown so I could “bulk up”; what he’s didn’t realize was that he and Maureen would have to feed me to reach that goal! I worked with T after school, weekends and summer breaks completing tasks that other landscapers would have to use heavy equipment to finish. T taught me how use chain saws, large commercial mowers, cross-cut saws, drive a stick-shift ( I was 16, didn’t have a license, had never driven a stick-shift, but he needed somebody to bring Maureen’s Subaru back from the shop. T said “ just follow me and you’ll be fine!”). When T substitute taught at YHS, he was all business; no first names, just last names and “yes, sir” “no, sir”. My buddies asked me to get him to ease up on us and I said ”not gonna happen”! Forward to senior year after all of the “bulking up” I was voted to captain the swim team and with T’s unwavering support ( he was the only guy I could hear yelling at me UNDER water) at just about every home meet we went 9-1, and I received All Conference, All County and All State recognition and recruitment letters from D 1 schools. That $75 he spent on the gym membership had paid off! He and Maureen found time to attend my graduation from NC State in 1986 to my 50th Birthday party in 2014. They say “It takes a village to raise a child”; well T was a village unto himself! I am forever indebted to T (and Maureen) for his mentorship, friendship, support, guidance and for being a second father to me. My friend you are gone but you will never be forgotten.

Love,

Dave and Jane Meyer

Raleigh, North Carolina

March 7, 2021