This is about my husband – John – the most amazing man I have ever known. John, died six months after he learned he had lung cancer. Six short months to deal with so much. He wanted to believe he would get well and so did I. I would not allow the doctors to tell him that he was terminal until John asked. They had strict instructions to give him as much hope as was possible - not to lie - just give him some hope. Maybe I deprived him of the stages he needed to go through at the end of his life - i'm not sure - but I did not want to see the light go out of his eyes - replaced by fear - I could not stand that for him. I wanted him to live as long as he could without being shattered. Just days before he died he asked me if he was going to die – and I still could not tell him – I still wanted to believe he would somehow pull through. He asked me for a priest and received his last rights one day before he was gone. ABOUT MY HUSBAND, JOHN: He was brilliant -- he was chosen Trial Lawyer of The Year, for the entire country, by the American Trial Lawyers Association when he was in his early forties - he was incredible in court - but more importantly he was one of the most gentle, caring, loving, encouraging, supportive people I had ever known. If it had not been for my husband, I, and many others, would never have known what they were capable of doing in life. John 's integrity was legendary among his colleagues – example - after trying a case for Honda Motor Co. which he lost due to an associate lawyer's HUGE oversight while preparing for trial, he called the company to tell them he had committed malpractice - and gave them their options concerning recourse. He was greatly admired for his honesty. At the same time, he was so capable of doing so much for so many - and he never tired of it. He truly tried to correct the wrongs that were done to people that touched him. He had the love and respect of practically everyone he had ever met. You could almost hear people saying "who was that masked man" as he was walking away......on to his next endeavor. As to the genius that John was - he tried the corvair cases for GM many years ago - His main "Exhibit" for the trial was a little red wagon - modified with all sorts of weights and dials to conform to the same basic design as the corvair. How brilliant was that??? What juror would not identify with that little red wagon - with love and memories. He was a genius. He loved collecting corvairs after that trial – his favorite was a little brown corvair convertible that he would stuff his 6'5" frame into, swearing about these God damned small cars (which he dearly loved), and drive off to work. It looked like a grown man going off to work in a big wheel - it was a riot and so much him - and I loved him so much. John started his lawfirm with a man named George (we’ve discussed him). The firm was exceedingly successful mainly due to John’s incredible reputation, his sense of fairness, his integrity in dealing with his clients and his awesome track record in court. One of the articles that was written about him in the legal journals when he died was entitled “One of the Truly Great Giants In Our Profession Has Fallen”. He was amazing. People were drawn to John and his energy. When he came into a room – the room felt good and people wanted to be near him. I was so proud to be his wife. John never let me down. His word was his word and he did what he said he would do. He adored me – and I him. He loved taking me to places I had never been – all over the world. He wanted me to be happy and supported me in my concerns, my fears, my issues, no matter what. He used to love helping me write ads for my company – and they were very good ads. We laughed a lot – totally disagreed about politics – and he could finally embrace sobriety after we began our life together. We had two terriers in our home that kept having puppies – this was a very new area of life for John - and he so loved his puppies. We shared a lot of new areas in life together - I miss him - and I was so proud to be his wife.
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