Gentle hugs & good thoughts your way.
May his memory prove a blessing.

Wow, This sucks in so many ways.

Gaius taught me how to dance.
Gaius walked me through the steps necessary for legally changing my name.

I always assumed he'd show up at some shindig and I'd get to see him again.

He will be missed....

A splendid man, a romantic at the most surprising times, and a gentleman to the end -- he always said if he couldn't stay married to me he couldn't marry anyone else and wouldn't try -- and he kept his word.

Dearest heart, fly well. Tell God that you want the rest of that foot back immediately so you can teach all those rookie angels how to galliard on the head of a pin...

your Miss Kitty
(Countess Tamera FitzGloucestre of the White Boar, Ret.)

I won't pretend to know about the CSA and all that you speak of. I am a brother (in truth) to Gaius. As an adult, he lived a separate life for many years away from his birth family. But for the last perhaps eleven years, he had some contact with us. I was pleased that he hadn't lost his sense of humor and great wit.

Rich, my brother, I love you and will miss you. I wish you well, whither you fare. Please God, grant Gaius peace and safe passage to the shores he longed to land upon. Whether Valhalla or wherever.

Your Brother, Ralph Kizewski

Hi Joellyn, I'm glad to meet you, though I wish it were under different circumstances. I knew Giaus' first wife and now you. I am glad that you wrote. I was searching for a page that mentioned him in a tribute context and though your first letter suggested knowing him in an intimate way, that didn't mean that you were his former wife. Your name (ma feathers) wouldn't have suggested it either. Our brother Joe, and sisters Tina and Deb will be at the funeral tomorrow. You haven't said if you were attending so you can meet others of us if you are there. I liked what you said in your letter to me and I agree. About him having a hard road and treading it with dignity, grace and grit. You obviously knew him well. He gave us peace in his returning and I think all will be well with us. My sisters corresponded with him more frequently and it will be harder for them I suppose. Our mother seems to be failing and Deb, Steve, Mark, and I went to her home to break the news to her. She will have a hard time as well. At any rate, you are welcome to write me personally if you have any questions or comments comparing the man that you knew and the man that I knew. I admit that I wouldn't mind hearing about some of those lost years as well. I wanted to add something as tribute to Gaius. (this is taken from the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle, by C.S Lewis. Farsight the Eagle is giving King Tirian a last message from Roonwit the Centaur.) "Remember that all worlds draw to an end and that noble death is a treasure which no one is too poor to buy." Ralph Kizewski (rkizewski@yahoo.com)

Hi czina, thank you for replying and for your show of sympathy. Both are appreciated greatly. Gaius was a hard man to know but well worth the effort. I knew him as well as any here growing up but can only speculate on his later life. I agree with joellyn it this regard. He had difficulty showing feelings. If I do not now, I have in the past. Children bring forth emotions that otherwise remain largely untapped. Being a parent made me able to give what might (in my own case) have never been allowed to grow. At any rate, I think that Gaius had many devoted friends that made those silent years well worth living, yourself included. I believe that he constantly struggled to show his feelings and even once returning home, he showed that he was more able to give them away, perhaps realizing that they are an endless stream rather than a finite amount that we must horde. To all of his friends I will be eternally grateful for helping him become the man who returned. He lived life on his terms and still gave what he could to all he chanced across. In gratitude, Ralph Kizewski