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Matt and Eddie

January 15, 2002: I buried my best friend today — he was 53.

I first met Eddie in 1977 after my mom contacted Big Brothers Big Sisters to see about getting me a Big Brother. A few weeks after she contacted them, a man driving a big brown car pulled up in my yard. He got out and said that his name was Eddie. I remember that he seemed really tall, well groomed, had broad shoulders and smiled a lot. He was huge to a seven-year-old boy! He asked me if I wanted to go to his house, and it took all I had not to get too excited. It was great to talk and play ball with someone who did it because they wanted to, and not just because mom told them to.

The next time we got together we went to his mom’s house. I was in heaven! She lived on a lake with Eddie’s stepfather. He owned a restaurant that served the best fried chicken that God ever put on this earth. After that I met Eddie’s brothers Johnny, David and Jimmy, and his sister Susan. Over the next few years we went to football, baseball and basketball games (Gators of course!) and watched them on the TV together (or as Eddie called it, the “Boob Tube”). We went to most of David’s high school football games, some of Jimmy’s golf tournaments, and, when I got big enough to carry Eddie’s golf bag, I caddied for him.

During his softball games I was the batboy, which is when Eddie gave me the nickname “Matt Man.” When I was old enough to play little league baseball, Eddie would always come along. He’d take me for BBQ before the games, and he’d run over to the field if I got hurt, asking if I was okay and showing me how to run it off. Now that I look back at it, he was like a dad watching over his son play ball. Over the years there were more ball games and dinners with his family. They eventually became my family as well. Eddie was no longer just a guy who volunteered his time to some kid. He really was my “Big Brother.”

Matt and Jen

On May 5, 1992, I was Eddie’s best man when he married Linda. The only way I can describe Linda is “heavenly.” For the next ten years they both kept me in line. They were there for me when my first marriage failed, and when I met the love of my life, Jennifer. We still attended holiday dinners and family barbecues.

I last saw Eddie at Thanksgiving. Shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with cancer. We were all in shock. The idea that Eddie wouldn’t be there any more was unbearable, and I just ignored it like, if I did that, it’d just go away. I cried once, and then I thought, “well he won’t die today, I’ll go to see him soon.” But I didn’t get the chance. Eddie passed away 18 hours before I was due to visit him. I didn’t get to say goodbye.

The day of the funeral, the church was full of people who knew and loved him. People like myself who were touched so deeply by one man. He will be terribly missed, not only by Linda, his stepsons, family and co-workers, but missed by me, his “Little Brother.” Twenty-four years ago, this stranger wanted to volunteer his time to a young man. He ended up with a friend for life .