Brian was a beautiful soul. He was part of our crew during my senior year and after, even during our "disco days." Through him I got my best friend, Lisa Keller, now Lisa Lake, who was his girlfriend. There were many double dates between the two of them and my boyfriend Steve Thompson and me. We hung out with him in Hawaii when I was 18. He went through a lot in his life. When his mom passed away he couldn't go see the Who at the Forum, so Steve and I went. So sad...He later came to see me, now 20 years ago, and told my children "Your mom was one of my best friends." Rest in peace, dear Brian. You touched my life.
Brian and I had friendship that spanned 60 years!!! Like no other before or since! We grew up int same housing tract and were in every class together from 1st to 8th grade. Starting at Rancho View Elementary then ironically we both enrolled at St. Francis of Assisi from 6th thru 8th grade and then FVHS. After high school like most of us we lost track. Fast forward to February 2018 we found each other on Facebook and reconnected. It was like we never lost a moment! He was living in Romania and loving it. He eventually jumped out of Facebook and we began emailing regularly. One day while we were emailing back and forth my cell phone rang. The caller ID had a number with at least 14 digits....it was Brian!!! We spoke for hours!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it. We continued our email connection and even spoke a few times after. Fast forward to after our FVHS reunion where I reconected with Dan Malane. Cant really talk about Brian without mentioning Dan. See we all went to St Francis together. Our moms had a carpool rotation to take us to and from school. So every day for 3 years Brian, Dan and I rode together. Also with Brians brother Joel and Dans brother Joe and sister Ann. We were like family and Brian and Dans mom were like my second mom, as was mine to them. Heck Brian and I were even alter boys together. So Dan joined our little email trail and it waas like coming home! We would ping-pong emails back and forth about once a month or more! We exchanged emails over Christmas and New Years. Around mid January I realized we hadn't hard from Brian which was odd. I sent him a seperate one on one email asking if he was ok and if everything was good but he never replied. I did not have a good feeling about his silence. We never heard from him again Now I realize that this was about the same time he was hospitalized with Lymphoma which eventually weakened him and led to his passing from Covid. I have 60 years of great memories and love him like a brother! Blessed that we reconnected, spoke and had an amazing trail of emails! I kept every email in the chain and reading them is like listening to Brian speak! So glad that we shared so many amazing years together, One of my favorite books is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and I'm pretty sure you'll be one of my five! Until then, rest in peace my dear lifelong friend!
I pulled togther some old pictures to share
Seond Grade: Brian is in the 3rd row with the bow tie and I'm two to his left
5th Grade: Brian is the first guy in row 3, I'm next to the teacher...yes that's Kenny Force (FVHS Baron Mascot) in the 3rd row
St Francis 7th grade Brian is two over from Sister Clare. Other notable Barons; Mary Joe Meade and Monica Espinoza in the second row, Kevin Shaw in the third row and Dan Malane starts the forth row and I'm 5 down from him
St Francis 8th grade graduating class from 1970 ... names are listed!
Yep we were alter boys! Brian in the middle row and me in the front!
So sad to hear we lost another classmate. It warmed my heart he was so loved my his classmates and had long term relationships with them. Prayers going out to his family and friends
Shelle Strauss (Wisdom-Lazar)
Brian was a beautiful soul. He was part of our crew during my senior year and after, even during our "disco days." Through him I got my best friend, Lisa Keller, now Lisa Lake, who was his girlfriend. There were many double dates between the two of them and my boyfriend Steve Thompson and me. We hung out with him in Hawaii when I was 18. He went through a lot in his life. When his mom passed away he couldn't go see the Who at the Forum, so Steve and I went. So sad...He later came to see me, now 20 years ago, and told my children "Your mom was one of my best friends." Rest in peace, dear Brian. You touched my life.
Dave Kilpatrick
Brian and I had friendship that spanned 60 years!!! Like no other before or since! We grew up int same housing tract and were in every class together from 1st to 8th grade. Starting at Rancho View Elementary then ironically we both enrolled at St. Francis of Assisi from 6th thru 8th grade and then FVHS. After high school like most of us we lost track. Fast forward to February 2018 we found each other on Facebook and reconnected. It was like we never lost a moment! He was living in Romania and loving it. He eventually jumped out of Facebook and we began emailing regularly. One day while we were emailing back and forth my cell phone rang. The caller ID had a number with at least 14 digits....it was Brian!!! We spoke for hours!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it. We continued our email connection and even spoke a few times after. Fast forward to after our FVHS reunion where I reconected with Dan Malane. Cant really talk about Brian without mentioning Dan. See we all went to St Francis together. Our moms had a carpool rotation to take us to and from school. So every day for 3 years Brian, Dan and I rode together. Also with Brians brother Joel and Dans brother Joe and sister Ann. We were like family and Brian and Dans mom were like my second mom, as was mine to them. Heck Brian and I were even alter boys together. So Dan joined our little email trail and it waas like coming home! We would ping-pong emails back and forth about once a month or more! We exchanged emails over Christmas and New Years. Around mid January I realized we hadn't hard from Brian which was odd. I sent him a seperate one on one email asking if he was ok and if everything was good but he never replied. I did not have a good feeling about his silence. We never heard from him again Now I realize that this was about the same time he was hospitalized with Lymphoma which eventually weakened him and led to his passing from Covid. I have 60 years of great memories and love him like a brother! Blessed that we reconnected, spoke and had an amazing trail of emails! I kept every email in the chain and reading them is like listening to Brian speak! So glad that we shared so many amazing years together, One of my favorite books is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and I'm pretty sure you'll be one of my five! Until then, rest in peace my dear lifelong friend!
I pulled togther some old pictures to share
Seond Grade: Brian is in the 3rd row with the bow tie and I'm two to his left
5th Grade: Brian is the first guy in row 3, I'm next to the teacher...yes that's Kenny Force (FVHS Baron Mascot) in the 3rd row
St Francis 7th grade Brian is two over from Sister Clare. Other notable Barons; Mary Joe Meade and Monica Espinoza in the second row, Kevin Shaw in the third row and Dan Malane starts the forth row and I'm 5 down from him
St Francis 8th grade graduating class from 1970 ... names are listed!
Yep we were alter boys! Brian in the middle row and me in the front!
Wendy Coleman
So sad to hear we lost another classmate. It warmed my heart he was so loved my his classmates and had long term relationships with them. Prayers going out to his family and friends