"Dear Dad,

It broke my heart to lose you,
but you did not go alone,
A part of me went with you,
the day God took you home.
If tears could build a stairway and heartaches
make a lane, I could walk my way to heaven
and bring you back again.
In life I loved you Daddy and in death i love you still,
in my heart you hold a place
that no one could ever fill! xoxo

From the moment I met you I knew you were going to be number 1 in my life. I looked up to you for everything. What was it the day after I got to you we started our journey with Larry Adams at river lagoon a place so hard for me to go now, filled with memories of you. I walked our beautiful family through River Lagoon just showing them all the you had done and it brought joy to my heart to see them so amazed at the things you had done. I met your best friends Friday, Duck and Tammy they are so wonderful it was so nice to talk to them about all the wonderful times you all shared together. My only regret is that i wasn't there to enjoy it with you. I beat my self up for not spending more time with you but time was an issue, that I never knew. My mind would not let me understand why I was in California and had not yet heard your laugh, enjoyed your warm smile, or got a stern kick in the ass. The person I was most scared to meet was important to you. I know you know how much I love her now for being there for you. Sharon holds a special place in both are hearts and i'm so glad i got to meet her. She told me how special it was when i called her Mom. She was the shoulder i needed to cry on while i was there, I could feel the love. Now I just want to take the compassion and wisdom I have learned from you and pass it to my children. Me Cheri and the kids love and miss you very much." - Ginger

"I am still trying to process the fact you are gone. You were not supposed to go so soon but I guess heaven needs some remodeling. You are loved and missed.
Love,
Ann" - Ann Simoneau

Uncle Mickey, I miss you and I love you. My Dad says Hi and He is very sad you are gone. Merry Christmas. HO HO HO. Love Ben. - Ginger

"Dad, From the day I met you I knew you would grow to be my number one idle. Everything i know today i learned from you and that is something that no one can take from me....Your kindness and your wisdom has carried me in my life from a little boy into the young man I am today. I hope I can radiate the way you lived your life threw me now and be the role model to my kids you were to me. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!. You always told me ""The Laborers of this world will sit as Kings in Heaven"". So I know I have a special seat waiting for me with the most special person to me in the world. I love you Dad. Your grandbabies and Cheri love and miss you xoxoxo.....!!!!

Love you Always & Forever Your Son Anthony Michael Althoff

""Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. there is unbroken continuity.
[There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident?]
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well.""
" - Anthony

Mickey, You were the best little brother a sister could have asked for.I remember playing hooky at Fremont Elementary in Montebello and we would draw pictures and play in the church schoolyard. I will always have a picture of you in your highchair with a carousel cake on the tray. Our hope is in heaven, and I will see you there. Love, Mary - mary

Mickey, from the day I remember, you were always working. Daddy used to send you to the truck at a wee age, to fetch a tool. You carried that knowledge in to your adult life and could fix just about anything. My favorite personal memory of you was playing in the damp sand that Daddy would bring home and dump in the yard for us. We would build tunnels and roads for our matchbox cars. Mommy would have to hose us off before we stepped foot in the house, due to the sand just stuck all over our bodies. Mickey, I will always remember that smile, the laugh, and the frustrated "scratch the head" when you were just dumbfounded with someone or something. I'll see you soon. Save me a seat ok? Wrapping my arms around you, with my heart... - Ginger