Jesse Lee Dukellis
A close friend of mine passed away yesterday. All I know is that he went into to hospital with a migraine and a fever, and went into cardiac arrest shortly after. He leaves behind his wonderful wife and baby daughter.
I spent yesterday going through bouts of crying uncontrollably and being in a state of numb shock. It is unreal. Jesse lived such a loud and boisterous life I cannot reconcile that fact that such a bright and wonderful soul has now passed in such a quiet manner. I was talking with some friends yesterday, and we spoke of how indestructible he was. We would have expected him to go from something epic... say, base jumping from the Eiffel Tower (which he talked about) or protecting his wife and child from the forces of darkness or small zombie army... or creating a small zombie army. Someone brought up the mental image of him constructing a hang glider right now so he can fly over the river Styx (because he's not stupid enough to try and swim it, though he did love his swimming). He would do it, too. Just because he could... and with his ten dollar grappling hook.
The things that I remember most about him are his huge grin, his silly high pitched laugh he would do, and his gigantic bear hugs he would always give me. His greetings of "Hey sweetie" or "hey sugar nips", and how no matter what he always made me feel good about myself. How he was always, always there for me, even before we really knew each other that well.
I think what kills me most is that his daughter will never have the opportunity to know him. I expected to one day get the call saying "Kara, I need you to come pick me, Kevin, and Bridgette up at this location... I can't explain right now..." Ha. She will hear stories of his epic adventures, but I wish with all my heart that she could have known him.
I will miss him more than I can ever put into words, and my heart and soul ache for his loss.
I spent yesterday going through bouts of crying uncontrollably and being in a state of numb shock. It is unreal. Jesse lived such a loud and boisterous life I cannot reconcile that fact that such a bright and wonderful soul has now passed in such a quiet manner. I was talking with some friends yesterday, and we spoke of how indestructible he was. We would have expected him to go from something epic... say, base jumping from the Eiffel Tower (which he talked about) or protecting his wife and child from the forces of darkness or small zombie army... or creating a small zombie army. Someone brought up the mental image of him constructing a hang glider right now so he can fly over the river Styx (because he's not stupid enough to try and swim it, though he did love his swimming). He would do it, too. Just because he could... and with his ten dollar grappling hook.
The things that I remember most about him are his huge grin, his silly high pitched laugh he would do, and his gigantic bear hugs he would always give me. His greetings of "Hey sweetie" or "hey sugar nips", and how no matter what he always made me feel good about myself. How he was always, always there for me, even before we really knew each other that well.
I think what kills me most is that his daughter will never have the opportunity to know him. I expected to one day get the call saying "Kara, I need you to come pick me, Kevin, and Bridgette up at this location... I can't explain right now..." Ha. She will hear stories of his epic adventures, but I wish with all my heart that she could have known him.
I will miss him more than I can ever put into words, and my heart and soul ache for his loss.