A sad time for the Rames' in Ireland

We received some tragic news this morning.  Our dear friend and neighbor, Steve Dapogny, was killed in a car/pedestrian accident while walking in Chicago.  Though you might not have known him by name, I'm sure many of you would have known him from our stories.  He touched our lives in so many ways that we were never slow in relating a story about Steve, Carol, or the Dapogny kids (Alex, Cindy, and Maggie).

 Here are just a couple of ways he touched our lives:

Steeeve.  JJ had wanted a guinea pig for a long time.  Finally, last Christmas, JJ's wish came true, but he couldn't think of a name.  Steve was over and he suggested "Steve", in a serious tone.  It couldn't be just "Steve", so JJ added a couple of "e's" and thus was christened Steeeve.  Steeeve wasn't able to come to Ireland, but JJ worked the deal that he could get an Irish lass of a pig and bring Steeeve back a girlfriend.  Her name was to be Carol.  JJ mentioned this morning (after hearing this news) that he wanted to name his new pig "Dapogny".

The chiminea pit.  Matt and Sandi Rubio were the proud owners of a chiminea (a free-standing fireplace shaped like a pear).  The Dapogny's, Rubio's, and Rames' spent many an evening in Rubio's back yard enjoying each other's company and  (ALMOST ALWAYS) some of Steve's latest brew and marshmallows.  After a year or so, combined with the Pacific Northwest weather, the area became known as the chiminea pit.  It was getting a bit muddy with boards under our feet and the grass worn bare.  There were a number of discussions about making improvements to the pit, but usually after a few of Steve's beers, so progress was slow.  Joe and Steve decided that they were going to surprise Matt and Sandi while they were on vacation and build a Pacific Northwest chiminea pit.  Bring in the treated lumber, gravel, and a hot weekend of work and the new and improved chiminea pit was born.  When the Rubio's packed up and moved to Boise, the 3 performed an engineering feat by moving the pit 12 feet over into Joe's yard.  When the Rames' went to Ireland, the chiminea (minus the pit) found a new home in the Dapogny's back yard in the patio area that Steve built last summer.

Moving.  Steve was an expert in packing and moving things, a result of a few years of summer/college work.  His experience was highly valuable to both the Rubio's and the Rames' in the last year and Steve was a great friend during those times.  With his help, the Rames' house was packed into a 10x20 storage facility, with no room to spare.  You can see Steve and his son Alex's handiwork here.  And the Dapogny's also volunteered to host Tuna, our cat, until he is free to join us in December.  The knowledge that Tuna would be taken care of by the Dapogny's was probably one of the biggest comforts that helped our kids make this really big step.

Outdoors.  Steve was an avid bike rider.  During Joe's unemployment stint, he sought out Steve for some experienced advice.  Steve took Joe out for a bike ride and left him in the dust.  It took a week for Joe to recover and after that decided he'd stick to hand digging french drains in the back yard and re-double his efforts in finding a job.  Steve also made the trip up Mt. St. Helen's for JJ's first climb in September 2010.

Beer.  Steve had a passion for making beer.  His neighbors had a passion for consuming it.  It was a great relationship.  Steve was heading back into the job market.  I think his quote was, "If I'm going to get a crappy paying job, I might as well get a job doing something I love."  Thus began his journey to go back to school.  This is what brought him to Chicago as he was attending the Siebel Institute of Technology's brewing program.

Military.  Anyone that knows Rod, knows of his immense obsession with anything related to the military.  Having a former Naval aviator next door was the source of great pride for Rod.  I'm sure Steve felt like "Mr. Wilson" to our "Dennis the Menace", but he never let it show.  Steve even dug out his flight suit and helmet for JJ to wear during his presentation on Neil Armstrong in 4th grade.  Steve was also present at Rod's first Airsoft tactical going away party.  If you've never heard of this, think of shooting at each other with automatic bb guns for 3 hours.  Rod was very excited to have Steve join us and still remembers the red spots on Steve's receding hairline from a few precisely landed shots.

The pain that our family is feeling right now is difficult to measure.  I'm sure that pain is dwarfed by the pain in the Dapogny house.  Please put the Dapogny's in your thoughts and prayers.  

I'll leave with this thought.   There's no making any sense of any of this right now.  We were blessed to have a friend like Steve.  The fact there is so much pain in loss is the true measure of the friendship.  May God bless you with friends like we had in Steve.  The pain is great at this moment, but the rewards of having known him will eventually make up for the loss.  It will take a long time.

Joe, Martha, Rod, JJ, & Grace