StarTribune article
Jay Tirpak loved pursuing and teaching outdoor sports
Legacy.com Guestbook
Andrew "Jay" Tirpak
Jay's Slide Show on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmASUvBcccU
Monday, May 25, 2009
Miss you, Jay!
It's been a long, sad week. My mom called on Sunday morning (May 17th) around 9AM. The EMTs had just left the house and Jay didn't make it. He had a heart attack getting out of bed. He hadn't had time to take off his CPAP mask (he wore for Sleep Apnea). My mom was in the kitchen making the morning coffee and heard him stir in the bedroom. The EMTs worked on him for 45 minutes - taking 2-minute shifts with chest compressions, etc. My parent's friends Holly and Randy were there while the EMTs were there and stayed until I got there. I couldn't drive fast enough! I cried all the way.
On Sunday, Steve came down and we went to 'visit' Jay at the funeral home. He was covered in the red wool blanket that he's had forever. It's such a scary sight to see someone without any color. I was glad Steve was there to comfort me. We said our goodbyes. Jay was going to be creamated on Monday.
On Monday, mom and I met Shelly and Beth from Jay's work at the spot where we thought that Jay would aprove for a friends and family get-together to celebrate his life. We put together the obituary for Tuesday's paper. I scanned some pictures for a movie. Mom and I shopped for 'funeral' clothes.
On Tuesday, mom and I met some friends from her work for lunch and I went home for Anthony's Choir Concert. It was really hard for me to leave mom, but I knew that Steve would take care of her. He stayed and worked in the Twin Cities for 3 days. My mom was glad to have him there, too.
On Wednesday I dropped everyone off at school and went to have my hair and nails done. I needed some time to decompress a little bit. After school, I picked up kids and took them to their dentist appointments. The folks at Kenwood Dental are so good to us. It's Miller Day when we come in. They get 6 of us in and out in 2 hours. A total of 151 teeth were cleaned and checked and we didn't have a single cavity! Yipee! Then I went back to the Twin Cities. Mom and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and drinks and WINGO. We bought a million Thank You cards and a few nice picture frames at Target.
Thursday was our day to sleep in. Mom is always up before me. I put the finishing touches on the PowerPoint I made and the program for the gathering. We arrived at the gathering site an hour early and organized everything. Shelly was there to help and some of mom's friends came early to help, too. It was so incredible to see the nearly 250 people who visited. My mom had a line-up all night. I mingled.
Thank you to everyone who attended, sent flowers and cards, and donated to worthy outdoor education causes. A special thank you goes out to Jay's work! Your kind words and prayers have made this so much easier for me. Just knowing that my mom has so many friends and people to care for her in the Twin Cities has made it possible for me to relax a little bit and get back to my family in Duluth. Thank you so much to all of those people who are looking out for her.
I'm going to add another post with the PowerPoint that I made of all of Jay's old pictures. I have to figure out how to do it. :)
On Sunday, Steve came down and we went to 'visit' Jay at the funeral home. He was covered in the red wool blanket that he's had forever. It's such a scary sight to see someone without any color. I was glad Steve was there to comfort me. We said our goodbyes. Jay was going to be creamated on Monday.
On Monday, mom and I met Shelly and Beth from Jay's work at the spot where we thought that Jay would aprove for a friends and family get-together to celebrate his life. We put together the obituary for Tuesday's paper. I scanned some pictures for a movie. Mom and I shopped for 'funeral' clothes.
On Tuesday, mom and I met some friends from her work for lunch and I went home for Anthony's Choir Concert. It was really hard for me to leave mom, but I knew that Steve would take care of her. He stayed and worked in the Twin Cities for 3 days. My mom was glad to have him there, too.
On Wednesday I dropped everyone off at school and went to have my hair and nails done. I needed some time to decompress a little bit. After school, I picked up kids and took them to their dentist appointments. The folks at Kenwood Dental are so good to us. It's Miller Day when we come in. They get 6 of us in and out in 2 hours. A total of 151 teeth were cleaned and checked and we didn't have a single cavity! Yipee! Then I went back to the Twin Cities. Mom and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and drinks and WINGO. We bought a million Thank You cards and a few nice picture frames at Target.
Thursday was our day to sleep in. Mom is always up before me. I put the finishing touches on the PowerPoint I made and the program for the gathering. We arrived at the gathering site an hour early and organized everything. Shelly was there to help and some of mom's friends came early to help, too. It was so incredible to see the nearly 250 people who visited. My mom had a line-up all night. I mingled.
Thank you to everyone who attended, sent flowers and cards, and donated to worthy outdoor education causes. A special thank you goes out to Jay's work! Your kind words and prayers have made this so much easier for me. Just knowing that my mom has so many friends and people to care for her in the Twin Cities has made it possible for me to relax a little bit and get back to my family in Duluth. Thank you so much to all of those people who are looking out for her.
I'm going to add another post with the PowerPoint that I made of all of Jay's old pictures. I have to figure out how to do it. :)
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