I’ve always been very fond of Christopher Walken. When he was much younger, he
was a dead ringer for my nephew Richard Callahan, Jr. who was born when I was
five.
As Richy aged, he looked more and more like Walken, and I thought that was just
totally cool. He fought in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, and got hooked on
heroin. When he came home again, he was pretty much wrung out, rode hard, and
put away wet. Unfortunately, he died quite young, in his 50’s.
My oldest sister’s eldest son. The drugs got Richy, but COPD killed my oldest
sister. Heck, everyone in my immediate family are dead, and I’m the last Martin
standing. June, my oldest sister had COPD.
Donna died of Alzheimer’s Disease, and her greedy son took everything she had,
and he helped himself to the sale of her beautiful home and didn’t even think
about sharing with anyone.
My oldest sib, Richard, died of a malignant brain tumor, and his dear wife,
Susan was left with quite a mess. His child (now a man) Douglas, wasn’t all
that happy about Dick’s widow.
My brother Bruce died of AIDS. He was a homosexual, and he wasn’t careful about
who he “loved.”
Oddly, my brothers both passed on September 5. One in 1989, and the other in 1990.
G-d be with you and your family.
I always thought most my sisters and brothers would be dead by now. I’ll be 60 this year, my oldest sister was murdered by her husband and my oldest brother died from stomach and pancreas cancer after drinking too much.
I’m the youngest of 8 but so now there are 6 of us left, and we are all kicking like we’ll be alive in our 90s.