My beloved Grogie..from the very first moment we locked eyes across a crowded dance floor, I somehow felt and knew that you and I would be together as a couple and we were, from that day forward. You were a shy and quiet man but passionate when you discussed your love of nature and penchant for live music. I learned about your love of flowers, your green thumb for gardening and your love for all kinds of music with an emphasis on blues and rock and roll. Neil Young, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Greatful Dead to name a few. You also supported and attended many local musicians gigs including Glutch Grabwell, who played at your benefit on April 29th. We bought our first home together in June of 1999 and got married in August of 2000. You so loved your property that you cleared the back half acre and built a stone staircase, tri-level walls and a gorgeous fire pit all by yourself! Then being the true landscaper by trade that you were, you planted fruit trees, annuals, perennials and a lot of butterfly and hummingbird bushes to attract nature and birds to your little piece of paradise! Then you decorated the entire backyard with items from Nova-Scotia - Buoys, nets, shells and rocks that you lugged up from the cove and back to the USA to display and remind you of your beloved Canada. I just realized that we were together nearly every single day -except for maybe two nights for nearly twenty years we were together until the very last week of your extraordinary life. I just counted and we were 44 days - the number of our home - shy of the 20th year anniversary of our very first meeting in November the night before Thanksgiving 1997.
Our world will never be the same...your light went out and mine is forever dimmed. My family adopted you as their own and there is now a void that can never be filled. You care about all of us, you loved us with all our flaws but you still always did the right thing and helped each and everyone of us become better people. I remember about a month before you died and you were telling me how sorry you were that you got cancer and sorry for what it did to me and us as a couple. I just want the world to know that some people never get two seconds, two minutes, two days, two weeks, two months or two years of what you gave to me for almost 20 years. Unconditional love! You never complained and you never stopped trying to beat this incurable cancer. You never gave in or gave up. I was ans still am in awe of you! I am grateful for for God for sending you to me and making me the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. Your kindness, your spirit, your genuineness and your love of life will live on through me , my entire family and all of your friends in the United States, Canada and around the globe.
Grogie was 57 years old when he died on October 13th, 2017. He was born on July 3rd, 1960. I would like to thank my parents, Rita T. and Richard T. Herbst of Worcester; my sisters, Nancy and Becky; my brothers, Dickie and Mark for everything you did for my husband to help him battle this very rare and aggressive Hurthle Cell Thyroid Cancer. I would also like to thank all of my friends around the world and on facebook for your prayers and all the things you did for us to make his crusade against cancer easier for both of us. We will always love you! There are too many names to list but you all know who your are! Love, K&M 11/26/2017