Skippy is gone

Missing
by Bruce Springsteen

Woke up this morning, was a chill in the air
Went into the kitchen, your cigarettes were lying there
Your jacket hung on the chair where you left it last night
Everything was in place, everything was all right
But you were missing
Missing...


I had another LiamLicks just about done but it will not be released today. Another story must be told.
Today we attended a funeral for John Frees, a dear friend, colleague, mentor, teacher, writer, husband, father, grandfather and more, who left us suddenly on Labor Day.

I first met John in October 1973, the month I started at the Social Security Administration. He had began his career a few weeks earlier. There were 6 classes of mostly 20 somethings just out of college and it was almost like being in school again as we had to attend training for 6 months. John was in one of the 3 Claims classes, a higher level job than mine. I was a Benefit Authorizer and so grateful to have a job! After class graduation we were assigned to the same module (meaning a unit of people working in a variety of complementary jobs) On payday, our paper checks would be distributed by the secretary. John would put his paycheck in his pocket and touch it when he passed my desk. Although mine was the same physical size it certainly was for less money. This was John's quirky sense of humor. He was most generous in helping others and I found out later than he always gave substantially more than anyone to collections for those in need, much more than the amount requested or suggested.

We often partied as a group in those early days at a pub named The Assembly in Bayside on Bell Blvd, long gone, but preserved in my photo albums. John is present in all the pix; he often complained that in every shot I took, his mouth is open with a hamburger about to go in. This is true. I have no memory of waiting til John opened his mouth but I seemed to have a knack for snapping the perfect burger shot. He did like that he had more hair in all the early photos so he tolerated my bringing in the "back in the day" pix, although he felt it did not quite make up for the open mouth shots.

John was quite proud of his very large head; one that few hats could cover. We had gleeful fun in buying plastic green derbies on St, Paddy's Day and watching his perch precariously on his large dome.

John also rode a rental horse (a real live one) and I let him know how sorry I was for the horse. Somehow I ended up doing an oil painting of John's horse which hangs in my basement til this day

After our initial module assignments, we moved around over the ensuing years and occasionally would be on a project together.

Our final collaboration from mid 2000-1/01/08 took place in The Immediate Claims Taking Unit- the highlight of our work lives.
We were a team until I retired in January 2008. He advised me on all technical matters. We discussed politics, world events, people, books, family, friends, cars, wine, dogs, houses and more (only on lunch and breaks of course)

We enjoyed our self appointed roles as parents of the newbies and delighted in their achievements. John was able to do an incredible amount of work quickly, correctly and always before deadline. The son of two teachers, he certainly showed that he absorbed their lessons well. His ability to write, analyze, share, comment and explain issues to the staff was just outstanding. John was especially kind to me when a new procedure came out; he never wanted me to be unprepared or out of the loop on any technical issue. John exhibited tremendous patience when in the midst of tech talk my eyes would roll back in my head.

We shared being Yankee fans, being Saturn owners, and wine lovers. John was a connoisseur of fine things; yet also a man who loved the 99 cents store and on his daily trips collected nasty food items which he declared"steals"

John did not ostentatiously celebrate his birthday. He did not appreciate the birthday card I would sneak into his cubicle every August. We share the same birth sign, Leo, our birthdays being 4 days apart. John was not a Leo who loved the birthday attention. Part of my fun was making sure he got the attention every year on August 5 with a birthday card from me. He would then totally ignore the card all day until I was about to burst, then he would come over and acknowledge, yes, he did get the card.

John loved his dogs, especially Jane. I found he had proposed the idea of buying a puppy for me for my retirement gift. I miss that I will no longer be sending him LiamLicks each Thursday. I now so understand his love of dogs.

We had a two floor set up for our unit and tried to give everyone face time with each other at least once a week. John would buy treats for the entire unit and folks would happily munch away on their favorite goodies as I started off with my feedback, passed the baton to the other managers, then gave the spotlight to our 2 Senior Case Processing Specialists, acronym SCPS or Skippies as we affectionately called them. John actually renamed himself Skippy. Upon announcing it was the Johns (they were both John) turn to speak, newbie Cheryl would strike up some appropriate CD, "Let's get it started in Here" by the Black Eyed Peas and the Skippies would roll their chairs forward into the spotlight. The tunes varied, others being YMCA and the theme for the Addams family TV show. John was particularly tickled when newbie Kevin would do a spot on imitation of him.
Good times.

Perhaps the most challenging, rewarding, sad project we worked on as a team was in 2001 for the families of the 9/11 attacks. Our unit processed 1000 of the 5000 claims filed nationwide for surviving families. John was there to guide, encourage and work these claims with the rest of our staff. Our group was much recognized for our efforts and we even became local pinups ( thanks to our boss) The following is a pic of the unit-shot fall 2001, on the 2002 calendar. Our month is August. John is the tall guy in the back-5th from the left, big head with some hair and not riding his horse I would be the Leo in the front, arms akimbo. As I am writing this, we are only 2 days from the 9th anniversary of the attack.

John wrote a note to Paul and me on the occasion of our 25th wedding anniversary in 2007
see insert I could very easily reverse the beginning and end to read

Skippy,

May a tiny bit of the joy and comfort you have given to others return to you.
You will be blessed beyond measure
Carol and Paul and Liam

R.I.P. Skippy

Woof woof