Bernard Francis Martin
12 Jul 1941–14 Jun 1988
Daddy: Your birthday and putting your father in the ground are two things that are never supposed to happen on the same day. But then again, you were not supposed to die and leave your fourteen year old daughter either. That fourteen year old is now a woman with a child of her own. A child that will never know you and for that reason, has suffered a terrible loss. I have not forgotten you and the pain of your death still courses through my veins and leaves a trail of emptiness behind. As the years go by, I remain the sobbing child that tossed you a rose before your coffin was lowered into the earth. As the years go by, my love for you never diminishes. As the years go by, I never allow you to fully die.