Hello everyone, I am Alex’s aunt Marj, Buzz’s sister. When Steve and I moved to Corvallis from Pennsylvania in 2007, we were fortunate to stay at Buzz and Pat’s home until we found an apartment. I had just retired as a massage therapist and Alex expressed a desire for some massage. He was a sponge for it. He was willing to try anything I suggested, Lomi Lomi on the table, Thai massage on the floor. And he was so curious, asking me questions about technique, and what did this stroke do and why was I doing that? Questions that many times I had no answers to but it was a very enjoyable time, just the two of us.

We had moved my father to Corvallis in 2006 and I was happy he would be with Buzz and Pat and whatever children were living there. I learned that Alex would ride his bike to his Grandpa’s, stand under his window and call Dad on his cell phone to let him know he was there to play cards. Because Alex is so engaging it makes me happy to think about the conversations they might have had. My father was a Dale Carnegie student and believed in the power of positive thinking, Alex also believed in the power of the mind. I read that Alex consulted his two dead Grandpas when he was riding the Lost Coast race in California, so maybe that’s something they discussed. When our Dad died Alex went to extreme measures to get to Corvallis from where he was living in Montana. He was a wonderful grandson to my father, it’s obvious by the smile on my Dad’s face in pictures we have with Alex by his side. Rest in peace, Alex, and in the knowledge you touched our family very deeply.

Love, Marj