Great Stories

Remembering Cody - September 1, 2002

The number one, most vivid memory everyone asked me to share was Cody’s automatic, you couldn’t keep it down, unforgettable, huge and beautiful smile. It’s only fitting that we work our way across that beautiful smile - from upturned corner to upturned corner with Cody memories:

Children

Starting at the first corner of the smile is one of the things that brought out his biggest smiles, Cody’s love of children. He had a huge soft spot in his heart for little kids. His little cousins lit him up. Although he loved his aunts and uncles, he immediately asked where their kids were. He was a beautiful child himself. We spent some time this weekend watching home videos of Cody growing up. One video shows a very small Cody being pushed in a yellow swing. The Hokey Pokey was on his mind and Brother Bruce was quizzing him…what’s your name Cody? Hokey Pokey. What’s your address Cody? Hokey Pokey. What state do you live in? Hokey Pokey. He had a mischievous grin on his face - he always did have a great sense of humor.

Animals

Next along the smile were animals. Cody had a great love of animals. Duke the dog - who got a little too big for cuddling in bed (of course, nobody told Duke that). Zoe, the Kitty - his near constant companion as his time got small. Stormy and Wiley, Lizards and Turtle. He loved all the creatures that lived in the woods where he spent hours being close to nature. He talked about someday becoming a vet or working at a zoo.

Sports

Next along the smile come sports. Cody participated in baseball, football, basketball, karate, golf, etc. He hunted and boated and fished. One great story was from a basketball game that Cody played in: A kid on the other team was being a real hot-dog and the coach was fed up. He told Cody to “get in there and bark at him.” Cody ran into the game, got down on his hands and knees, and barked at the kid. It caught everybody off guard and one of Cody’s teammates was able to score a basket. Cody broke his collarbone playing football - he went to all of the games, cheering from the sidelines.

The very first time Cody rode a dirt bike was in their backyard. Ralph lined him up and away he went. He immediately ran right into a pine tree. When the family came over later, he had a bunch of little dots all over his face from where the pine tree poked him - it looked like he had gotten the measles.

Ketchup

Next on the smile comes ketchup. What more can you say other than ketchup. Did you know that you can eat ketchup on pretty much everything? The family always had to buy two bottles of ketchup. One for Cody. One for the rest of the family.

Hunting

Next along the smile comes hunting. Cody seemed happiest traipsing through the woods with Ralph, sitting in a deer stand, waiting behind a blind. He started hunting after aceing the hunter’s safety course. In the short time he was a hunter, he bagged a doe, a button buck, and a six pointer. In Cody’s hunt of a lifetime, he bagged an 18.5-pound tom turkey When Cody was telling you a story, maybe about one of his great hunting trips, it was always done with great enthusiasm - he had a tendency to want to keep your attention: he’d get right in your face “And Dad, And Dad, And Then Dad, Then Dad, and Dad”

One time Cody and his dad took the four-wheeler to one of their favorite fishing holes. Cody caught a huge, 23.5” bass. He wanted to take it back to the house so he could show it off, but they didn’t have anything to carry it in. Once again, Cody was not deterred. He put the giant bass on his lap and carried it back on the four-wheeler - flapping around on his lap the whole way home. Once they got home, they had to put it in the kiddy pool. Then, they rigged up an aquarium so that visitors for the next few days could admire his great catch. Finally, after enjoying the fish, they loaded it in one of mom’s Tupperware containers and drove it back to the pond for release. Sure, Cody hunted, but he loved animals and took great care to ensure that there would be plenty of bass or other animals for everyone else to enjoy.

Traveling

Next along the smile comes traveling. Cody took a lot of great trips. One time, Cody was on a trip to the Mayo clinic. At the airport he decided that a shoeshine would be cool. The only problem was that the shoeshine man refused to polish tennis shoes. Not to allow a minor detail like that to deter him, he went and borrowed his mom’s shoes. So there Cody sat, with his usual grin, and his mom’s shoes…getting a shoeshine. Cody didn’t let a minor thing like a driver’s license deter him from driving either. He graduated from driving his dad’s truck on gravel hunting roads to driving the roads of Fremont in Mike’s truck.

One time, when Cody was real small, the family was driving to the lake house in Chautauqua. Cody looked out the window and got real excited. He told uncle Paul…wow! Look at the New York cows! As if NY cows were any different…it was just Cody’s usual enthusiasm coming through. Once they got to Chautauqua, Cody left us with another great memory. He was exploring the newly purchased lake house and found the very small TV sitting on a table in the living room. Cody hunted down his Grandpa and said, “Grandpa, if you buyed this house, why’d you buyed it with such a small TV?”

Another great travel memory took place in the Cayman Islands. Cody and his dad decided to go parasailing. Cody assured everybody that he would shout to them from the sky so that they would know when he was up. The boat departed from several miles up the beach and by the time parasailers went up, they were so far away that there was really no chance to hear them or even distinguish who they were. The rest of the family was sitting on the beach watching another in a long line of distant parasailers when all of a sudden they heard a bellowing “Hi!” from the sky. Boy did Cody have a big voice.

Community

Next on the smile is what Cody did for the community. Take a look around at all the people that Cody has touched. Look at all the functions that people did for Cody (or was it Cody doing it for us?): Clam bake, car wash, reverse raffle, rock climbing, haircuts, motorcycle rally (poker run), relay for life, bake sales, dances, basketball game, walk-a-thon, climb for Cody fund drive, pancake breakfast, fashion show, luau party, lemonade stands, caroling, birthday party donations, and so many other wonderful things that I fail to mention. The community came together and renewed a lot of our faith in each other - Cody reminded us how wonderful people can be. A few people commented this weekend that they think Cody did more in his short time on earth than most people do in two lifetimes. He embraced life and lived it to the fullest. Whether it was hunting, fishing, golfing, go-carting, football, baseball, basketball, boating, trucking, 4-wheeling, dirt biking, karate, paint ball, computer, video games, model building - it seems like he did it all. But it wasn’t about Cody’s stuff or what he did, it was WHO HE WAS. He was loving, he was caring, he inspired us, he redefined courageous, he was an adventurous child. Always positive. Never negative. He had enough room in his heart for us all.

Fishing