Mark’s Comments

     It was a day that someone special was born. That day was December 6, 1962. During and after that moment, Damien was loved as the air was first expelled out of his lungs. And he became colloquially a “nice guy”—or more properly a gentle gentleman—and then became a diligent worker. The brown-eyed, young man achieved a strong work ethic. One of his favorite activities was to fish for rock cod to throw “miles” of line into the ocean and then roll in the fishy treasures. And where else? Of course, Pismo Beach! At a more pragmatic level, Damien assisted my father in retrieving the fish from the pier and picking the fish as they dropped from the bag.

     Damien was very conscientious about assisting Dad on various tasks at the ranch and drywall. Depending on the year, his ranch duties included irrigation of the crops, weeding the rows of grape vines, and checking on our herd of cattle. As for drywall, Damien was helpful in assisting Dad with taping, and learned how to use the bazooka, a tool that applies joint compound and tape onto the joints of sheetrock. I remember one time when we – Dad, Conrad, Maurice and I – were taping and finishing a house in Fresno. One thing that I remember from this is that Damien was very generous person.

     I will end with what I think was Damien’s philosophy about life. The quote comes from Nelson Henderson, a Canadian farmer known for his love of nature.

     “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit”

Conrad’s Comments

     The Lebanese-American writer and poet Khalil Gubran, in his poem On Death, mentioned that:

     “For life and death are one, even as the river and sea are one.”

     Although a bit on the philosophical side, the quote has a deeper meaning that life is fleeting, and that what we do here on Earth has meaning for the Hereafter. In this regard, Damien was exemplary in his life. During the first 18 years of Damien’s life, I was Damien’s elder brother, before I graduated from university and moved out east for graduate school. During this time, I experienced Damien’s warmth as a brother and his steady work ethic in helping Mom with tasks in the house and with Dad out in the ranch. At that time, one of the persistent chores was to use a hoe to weed the crops, including use of Round-Up – probably too liberally –to devastate the weeds. At home, one of Damien’s chores was to clean the dust from the furniture and other places in the house where dust collects. For this, he was quite adept, although occasionally Mom would catch him missing some areas.

     Damien was typically soft spoken, although occasionally he would voice a strong opinion. Regardless, he lived the life of a good Samaritan, in that he was always willing to help, including eradication of those damn weeds. I recall that he would go to the back of the farm, where the Murphy Slough held water during certain parts of the year. He knew all of the types of fish, albeit small in size, that remained in the puddles as the slough dried up. Smallmouth bass, sunfish, bluegill, carp, minnow, and others; of course, there were the crayfish that were commonly occurring. He also provided the names of the trees, although now gone, that surrounded the slough. Valley oak, huckleberry, willow, wild grape, elderberry, and others. Like my Dad, he knew the common birds and was fascinated with mockingbirds. I tried to convince Damien that he should also concentrate on the insects—my specialty in life—but he demurred. Oh well, all is not lost! Damien’s closeness to nature at the ranch was part of his personality. Not much of it remains now. I regret that I missed opportunities to take Damien to the foothills of the Sierra, such as chapparal, blue oak–gray pine woodland, and the majestic stands of ponderosa pine further up in the High Country.

     I will close with a lyric that the prolific and legendary American composer and songwriter, Irving Berlin, of Tin Pan Alley fame, once mentioned:

     “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.”

     For Damien and for the rest of us, the melody continues in the good works that we do and in the generosity that we provide to each other.