My daughters' Dad (look to your left)

[Kat122]

My girls wrote this in memeory of their dad :]   The Man
Joseph Recca was born September 11th, 1951 in Massachusetts, the oldest of four children. It was here that he grew up and lived until 1978, when he joined the US Army, in which he would serve for twenty-two years. In 1981, he met and married his first wife, Kathy, in Heidelberg, Germany, where they were both stationed. Four years later, on September 13th, 1985, his eldest daughter, Holly, was born in Stuttgart Bad Canstatt, Germany, where they lived for two more years before moving back to the states. Stationed at Fort Drum, New York, in 1989, the birth of his second daughter, Sabrina, was celebrated. His career in the Army led them onward, to another tour in Germany, then to Colorado, and eventually North Carolina. It was here that Joe and Kathy divorced, and his children continued to live with her when the military stationed him at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It was there that he met his heart's companion, Cindy, whom he married. He also retired from his service in the Army, as a First Sergeant, and settled in Gainesville, VA, where he lived in his dream home and worked a job that he enjoyed.

In 2000, Joe was diagnosed with colon cancer for the first time. Over the course of his six year battle, he would try everything and be cancer-free on more than one occasion. However, in May of 2005, he and his family learned that he had one year until the cancer would take him, and that there was nothing left that could be done. This did not stop Joe, of course, the formidable soul that he was. For the rest of that year, he underwent some of the toughest chemotherapy available, and continued to do so until ten days before his death.

On April 16th, as the sun rose on that Easter morning, and the light barely peeked through the window to shine on his wife, his daughters, and one dear friend of twenty-six years, God reached down His merciful hand and brought Joe quietly out of his suffering and into a better place.
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"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."--Ecclesiastes, 3:1-8   Holly & Sabrina My girls    

[txmom92]

Aug. 12, 2008 at 12:04 AM

what a wonderful final farwell! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[YoungandExcited]

Sep. 4, 2008 at 8:31 PM

I have goosebumps from my legs all the way up to my arms. That must have been so difficult. I'm sorry.

[carol4004]

Dec. 29, 2008 at 6:21 PM

I loved that, thanks for sharing. My mom fought 2 years of breast cancer.