ConnectLife Blog

Our father, Vic to his friends, was an only child born and raised in Elizabeth New Jersey. His Father, Victor Winston Hamilton Sr. was killed in action during the Second World War. Even with this loss, he was surrounded by family. He was raised by his mother while living with his Grandparents and his beloved Aunt Manny. She filled in for his father attending all his school's Father and Son events. He loved the summers he spent with his family down the Jersey Shore playing Ske

Written by Shelly's mom, Debra I am so excited to share the life of my beautiful daughter, Shelly. Shelly was a very, loving, caring, generous and considerate young woman. Family was very important to Shelly, she had an older sister (my oldest daughter, Nicki) and a younger brother (Billy) and sister (Jillian), whom she loved very much, they meant the world to her. Shelly was my best friend. We could sit and talk, laugh and cry for hours. Mall walking and window shopping was

Written by Janice Heckt How do you sum up someone’s life in a few paragraphs? As I sit here thinking about what to say about Steven, and how to say it, with all of the memories flooding through that I have of him, I can’t help but refer to the poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellis. The poem is about reading a headstone and what the dash between the two dates represents. The last verse reads as follows: “So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash. Would

by Yvette Marin I would like to tell you about the man I was married to for 28 years. Grant was smart, funny, insightful, and generous in spirit. He was a loving husband to me, a loving father to our two daughters Amy and Tiffany, and a loving owner to our Great Dane Bailey. He loved sports - watching football, playing hockey, or going to the games with his friends. He retired from the Department of Corrections after 25 years as a Lieutenant. During his time, he served for si

Shared by his mother, Ericka John Stark 1984-2005 John was full of life. He was always on the go, looking for adventure. He was into extreme sports and was always trying new things. His last craze was snowboarding. He was fearless. He did not believe in letting fear rule a person. He was also a prankster. He loved to get a laugh out of people. He also had a very deep sensitive side, which not a lot of people saw. John knew that I loved him and worried about him, as all mother

What is a hero? A hero is a person who is admired for their brave deeds, special strengths, intelligence, courage, and abilities. A hero must be strong, smart, brave, and able to do what’s right no matter what the sacrifice to himself would be. I’d like to introduce our hero, Christopher Tarrant, to you. Chris was born, raised, and proudly called Western NY home. His mother, from Germany, and his father from Buffalo, raised Chris in a bilingual household where he spoke Ge

From the time she was a little girl, Tinna was a little chatterbox. She would not be quiet from the time she got up till she went to bed. When she started kindergarten, we would get notes home all the time saying how talkative she was. Her teacher called her a little social butterfly. She would go from desk to desk talking to people. When she was four, she went through the "why" stage. Everything was "why?" My answer was always because. That never satisfied her. So as she

Christopher Krencik was a happy and easy going young man, who had a large circle of friends. He is missed each and every day. Our family has had two tragedies. On March 4th, 2006, our 13 year old son was struck and killed by a speeding pickup truck driven by a 21 year old driver. The driver claims he saw a group of snowmobilers crossing the road at the snowmobile crossing. Jeremy was riding with some friends, along with his brother Josh, who ran to Jeremy's side. Unfortunatel

Claude Case Jr., known as "Butch" to most, and "Pops" to his children and their friends, was a hard working and honest man. His greatest joy was in helping others. As a younger man, he would stop by anyone he saw broke down on the side of the road and help to get their car going again, always having a trunk full of tools and least a few pair of vice grips, and ruining quite a few good clothes in the process. In the later years of his life, he had a goal to help at least on

Amy and her son Ben Written by Ed Kostowniak, Amy's husband "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass

Story told by her Aunt Diane Just before her third birthday, my niece Jessica woke up one morning with her little body completely swollen. After rushing to the hospital and going through many tests, it turned out she had kidney disease. She waited until she was 8 years old for a donor- a young man who was killed in a motorcycle accident. In their grief, his family still thought of others and my niece got a chance for a somewhat normal life. We wish we could have thanke

Amy Vidinovski Story told by her mother, Cathy Vidinovski Amy was a very dedicated and compassionate RN, proud of her profession and loved helping others. She was family oriented and loved spending time with us, especially her niece Sophia, who called her “Mamie”. A fun loving young woman who was a fan of the Boston Red Sox, she always had the baseball cap on and traveled to see them play many times. She had season tickets to the Bills games and after many games had no voic

We are truly honored to share these very touching personal stories each month. If you would like to honor a hero, please read below. The month of September, we honor... Louis Callari (This submission was written by Rosemary Callari) Louis loved his family and friends very much, as they loved him. Besides his Mom and Dad, Louis left behind two older sisters--Krystle and Brandi. He also had two older brothers-David and Mark, and nephews and nieces. He left behind a fiancé,

Tyler was an outgoing, fun loving 19 year old. He loved the game of baseball and just hanging out with his friends and bonfires. Tyler loved golf, four- wheeling and just hanging out with his sister or family. Tyler was attending Niagara County Community College with 1 class left before winter break. He and his friend were in a tragic car accident. His friend made it, but Tyler did not. Tyler always spoke of how he wanted to donate his organs if anything was to happen. Tyle

Branden Baker was just 17 when he gave the gift of life and became an organ donor. His family is dedicated to keeping his memory alive through the message of organ donation. This loving and caring teenager will never be forgotten. His parents share their very personal stories of Branden. Submitted by Gail Bowden (Branden's Mother) I think about Branden every day. I remember his smile, his joy for life, his love of people (especially babies), his love for animals, and his lov