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Tribute to my Brother-in-Law
I met the woman of my dreams in 1992. She was a traveling RN in south Florida where I lived. We dated and got to know each other and had a lot of fun. After a short time, Camilla started talking about her family. I learned she had two sons, a sister and two brothers.
As time went by we went to St. Petersburg to visit her father. I met her sister Debbie and brother Billy. During that visit her brother, Tracy, called. At first I did not know what to think of our first phone conversation. All I remember was...."You better not let anything happen to my sister, or I`ll come down there."
I found out he was a Marine, too.We had that in common. The tension and the ice had been broken. After that we hit it off over the phone.
It wasn`t until 1996 that I met Tracy in person. He came to St. Pete. when Mr. Mosley, Sr. passed away.We bonded and liked each other.
The next few years we continued to build a good brother-in-law relationship by way of phone calls.
I knew I could call him for advice if I needed it. He was 12 years older than me but his wisdom was far above his age.
Then one day in October 2001 we surprised him and showed up at his house in Pine Bluff Arkansas!! We had called him minutes earlier from our car and told him that we had a special delivery of smoked mackeral from Florida for him. He was so excited about it. Then Barbara was on the carport when we drove up and Camilla kept talking on the phone to Tracy as she walked into his house. His eyes lit up upon seeing his sister.
For the next two weeks we had such fun, we ate a lot,met his friends, shot pool in Little Rock ( his favorite thing to do ), and barb-e-qued on his patio.
I can honestly say that it affected me deeply when Barbara gave me the news. Camilla was sick and in the hospital that day. I had to go to her hospital bed and give her this devastating news, which also deeply affected me, to see my wife that way.
I really and truly liked my brother-in-law. He was a really great man, and a great Marine!
He added something to this world that will truly be missed.
He was very caring and family oriented...not only with Barbara, but with his special little sister, Camilla, too.
I had the last converstion with him on the phone from Palms of Pasadena Hospital where my wife was hospitalized. It was May 31, 2005 at 9:00 PM. I never dreamed, that 20 hours later, God would be calling him home.
His memory will live on in my mind forever. This is my tribute to him. He will be missed.
A few weeks after Tracy`s death, God also called my father home. There will always be a void in my life, as my brother-in-law and father were the ones I depended on for their wisdom and advice.
Tracy`s Brother-in-Law,
Keith F. Brien
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