Thursday, June 9, 2022
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I remember when Mickey and Paul started dating I believe in 74’ or 75’ he would take me hunting with him, you had to be at lease 16 to obtain a hunting license and he told me that when I turned 16 he would get me a shotgun so I could hunt on my own, which I planned on holding him to, he would let me ride his Suzuki 125 in the 2nd trail -most likely to get rid of me for a little while cause there was times of my father would make them take me with them - Later on when I turned 17 he used to let me drive his ‘72 Pontiac Ventura with the 350 big block, posi rear, cragar mags and the hurst 4 on the floor shifter, even when he was at work at Pathmark until one day when someone accused him of burning rubber in town and he knew that he’d been working and I had the car.Well they got married in May of 76’ when January 27th of 77’ came around~my birthday ~they had been recently married, in their first apartment, and just 2 weeks prior had their first child little Mikey,(R.I.P.) on January 15, so when I went by their place on my birthday he said he couldn’t afford the shotgun but he did in fact have a birthday present for me, he went down the hall and came back with a Kay acoustic beginner guitar in a black Cardboard Case. Since they didn’t have the funds to buy me a gun, He gave me his guitar which became my first guitar. For me that guitar was a crucial part of what the rest of my life would become. They were times when I think I played that guitar for 15 hours or more a day, I took it with me everywhere I went, and played it everywhere. I played it so much it was part of the reason why I dropped out of school. Flash forward 35 years I had been playing the guitar in nursing homes ministering to people for close to four years with a church in Woodbridge New Jersey and decided it was time to minister on my own, the only problem was, I was un-credentialed, so after looking into becoming ordained as a minister one of the pre-requisitions was you had to have a minimum of a high school diploma so I went back to school which the state of New Jersey so graciously paid for 3 to 5 days a week for approximately two months. I took the state test and received my high school diploma in 2012 in the top 10% of my class. My wife Cheryl and I - with the help of many others- have been ministering to people in hospitals, nursing homes, churches and synagogues ever since. It’s hard to imagine what my life would be like had Paul not given me his guitar. I will be forever grateful for Paul’s generosity for everything he has done for me and thank God for the times I got to share with him. May you forever Rest In Peace!
I’ve added a few photo’s, one of the guitar he gave me, a car that looks identical to his Pontiac and a picture myself and Kay, his only grandchild who shares the name of the guitar he gave me.
