9.26.2014
6.30.2014
Our hearts are truly saddened by the loss of Ed Dohrmann.
The McCormick’s have been friends of the Dohrmann’s for
many, many years. Ed recruited me to Bahl
& Gaynor. Ed was the father of Ted,
who was one of Brian’s best friends (and a main organizer of Brian’s recent memorial
golf outing.) His wife, Renie and son
Chris have been our friends, realtors and sold Brian’s home. They are a superb family and “our people.”
Ed passed away Sunday after a long illness. He was 74.
Susan summed it up perfectly: “Our hearts are truly
saddened by the loss of Ed. It just does
not seem possible or right. Now we’ve
lost two wonderful men who were pivotal in our lives and bringing us
together. When the time is right, we’ll
gather and toast them both. Hopefully,
they’ll meet us and watch over us all!
I am certain Brian is eagerly
showing him around and introducing all the “cool people” to Ed .
God bless Ed and the entire Dohrmann family.
6.29.2014
First Annual Brian McCormick Golf Outing: Great Day! Raised over $6,000 and NO felonies!
What a
great day for the first annual Brian McCormick golf outing. We had about 10 foursomes, 50 attendees and
survived a near hurricane. Most
importantly, thanks to the generosity of those who attend (and many who could
not but contributed), we raised over $6,000!
This money will help keep Brian’s legacy alive through helping Xavier University
students – who are in deep financial distress – stay in school. So far, our generous friends have helped keep
72 students at Xavier.
All of the
McCormick’s are humbled. We thank
everyone for their unbelievable generosity, kind words about Brian and love. We know each and every person who came to the
event could have been somewhere else. We
know you gave time, treasure and talent in order to make this event a
reality. We also know many of you are
just barely better golfers than Brian!
All
kidding aside, we hope everyone who assisted understand how grateful we are to
each of you. You helped us remember –
and honor – Brian through laughter, beer and shared friendship. He would of loved it. In fact, I know he did. While we were leaving the golf course we saw
not one, but two rainbows near the course.
Both my mom and I thought that was Brian’s way of indicating how pleased
he was with the day.
Special
thanks to Adam, Mark, Ted, Brez and Chris for organizing everything. Thanks to Craig and Mike for coming from
Florida. Thanks to the Glendale guys
for attending. Thanks to BJ and the Dana's crew. Thanks to Shaker Run for not prosecuting and a special thanks to Glenn Spencer for putting together the
ultra- cool golfing apparel web site where you can buy name brand gear with Brian’s
“X” wrestling mask logo. Check it out if
you want some flava:
Thank you
all. May God bless each and every one of
you.
Slainte!
5.21.2014
Better late than never!
Dear Mrs. McCormick:
I was a recipient of your family's memorial grant in the summer of 2012. This allowed me to return to school and put me on a path to graduate in December of 2013. I'm writing you to express my gratitude and appreciation. Your family's fund allowed me to overcome some of the issues I was going through at that time to help me achieve my goals. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Name withheld
XU Class of 2013
5.15.2014
Jobu
A few
days ago I stopped by Brian’s grave. I
saw a Heineken “tall boy” beer can on his grave and laughed out loud.
I immediately
thought: “Cool, I like Heineken.” Then,
I immediately thought of “Major League.”
This was one of Brian’s favorite movies and we constantly talked about “Jobu.”
One of
the best lines in the movie stated “It is very bad to drink Jobu’s rum. Very
bad.”
I
thought of Brian and Jobu. I did not
take the beer. In fact, I thought Brian
would want it poured out on his grave “for his hommies.” I did as Brian wished and left the can.
Thanks
to the person (probably a Gunnoe) who honored Brian, Jobu and made me laugh out
loud.
5.08.2014
Introducing Abigail Grace Gunnoe!
Congratulations
to Justin and Jenny Gunnoe on the 5/3/14 birth of their daughter.
Abigail
Grace Gunnoe was seven pounds, three ounces and 19.5 inches. LOTS of brown hair as you can see.
Justin
and Jenny will make great parents. Everyone
is glad she looks like Jenny!
For
one day, all is right with the world.
4.09.2014
“But, I am his only brother.”
My dad sent me an
email about a month ago. He told me he
found Brian’s original Best Man’s toast for our wedding. It was in Brian’s horrible “chicken scratch”
handwriting. There were numerous cross
outs, questionable grammar, arrows and - of course - it was nothing like the speech he actually
gave!
The last sentence of
my dad’s email was “I am certain it will be of value to you.” It is.
At that time, I was thinking about Brian and thought how I would really
like to get a sign from him. I guess I
did!
Brian’s remarks are
a wonderful gift. I can hear him saying
these words in his inflection. I can
hear his laugh, his voice and see his smile while giving this speech in front
of the crowd. I can picture Brian being
Brian.
Man, do I miss him.
It was six years ago
today when we lost him. I hate this
date. Most of all, I can’t stand the
missed opportunities, conversations and events that should have
occurred but never will. The pain is not
as sharp – but it is still there. Like
my bum ankle that I always have to deal with, it never leaves me.
I know we never get
a choice about death and a loved one.
You can’t bargain with God and say “make it quick” or ask for “more time.” It happens and worst of all
– you have no
control. But, you still have the
love. I think that amount of pain
someone has is directly proportional to the amount of love someone felt. Brian’s death caused so much pain (and still
does) because I, and many others, loved him fiercely and miss him
terribly. Given a chance to bargain with
God – and knowing the pain I would have to bear – I would easily say: “God,
give me Brian for only 33 years.”
However, I know that
Brian (as stated below) wishes us all the best.
He would not want us to become “professional mourners” and be thankful
for all of our blessings. I try my
best. I also am grateful Brian was
my only brother.
Enjoy the written
speech below. Then, be amazed at the video,
which shows the “finished product.” Only
Brian could prepare, forget the speech, wing it and still land on his
feet!
Love you Brian.
Matthew D.
McCormick
Everyone here in this room has a knowledge of
Matt. He is a son to Dick and
Diane. A nephew to Joyce, Mark and
Bill. An employee of Chauncey. The
husband of Sooz. The teammates of XURFC,
patron of The Woods, an alumni of XU and friend to all.
But, I am his only brother.
Everyone of these people have stories and knowledge of
Matt and how he has told them. If you
can, get a hold of him for a minute and ask about the time we decided to play
baseball with a basketball or when he decided to get his ear pierced in Costa
Rica or simply ask him about the story in the elevator in King Cole – Then you
will see a couple of things – a great sense of humor and that us Irish folk are
sometimes not that smart.
My brother has been more of an influence to me than
any other person excluding Ma and Pops.
Part of me feels that he is greatly responsible for my choice to go to
XU – to play Rugby – to be in business and to get the first punch!
He has shown me a great many things. But, the most important thing is how it looks
for someone to be in love.
I met Sooz a long time ago and I liked her
immediately. I knew she would be a
McCormick after I offended her and she came back to the house again (ask her
about Lenny). Well, I resisted Sooz for
a couple of months because I saw just how captured he was with her. I did not realize the reason he didn’t want
to play video games with me is because of something called love. I didn’t understand. But, a couple of years ago I realized that
soon I was telling stories about Sooz – and without my knowledge I started to
accept her and love her like a family member should.
I see them as one now – as you do – one perfect couple
that withstood a lot of things to make it to this day. I never thought of them not getting married. I know, don’t even think what would happen if
they didn’t get to this point because to me it was as always destined to be
there and be like this.
What I am truly trying to say – and its hard – because
us Mick boys here hate being schmaltzy is I love you all – and I wish the best
in the world to my best friend and big brother and to his beautiful wife – God
Bless you all!
Slainte!
4.07.2014
Inaugural golf outing for Brian (Pablo) McCormick
Some of Brian’s best friend have decided to
hold a golf outing for him and his memorial fund. Thanks to the generosity of many of you, his
fund has help kept 72 students in financial distress enrolled at Xavier.
I found it quite amusing that we will have a
golf tournament in honor of Brian – who was ranked by Golf Digest as the “certified worst golfer in the world” for
three years in a row.
Special thanks to Mark Beresniewicz, Adam Boehm,
Ted Dohrmann and Mark Libs for organizing. It should be a blast and hopefully
many of you will help make it a special day.
Thanks, God Bless and Let’s get ready to rumble on 6/28!
PS. Pablo says: “UD still sucks!”
**********************************************************************************
When: 6/28/14
Where: Shaker Run in Lebanon, Ohio
Time:
Lunch at noon. Scramble start at 1:30.
Cost: $125 per player (includes golf, lunch and
$70 donation to Brian McCormick Memorial Fund at Xavier)
Please mail payment to:
Ted Dohrmann
7181 Tiki Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45223
Note:
In order to receive the tax deduction, you must mail two checks. One for $55 to Shaker Run Golf Club. The other (for $70) to Xavier University.
Please email me at mmccormick@bahl-gaynor.com with
any questions.
3.18.2014
Things that make you say "hmmm."
1.
We recently
moved and now live about two miles away. Naturally, a move brings up a lot of
emotions due to all the actives associated with a sale/purchase of a new home. Our
kids have really only knew one house and we had some great memories at our old
home. Caroline asked “will Uncle Brian
know where we are?” We told her “of
course.” Well, we hired a cleaning crew
to come in the day after we moved. Susan
was doing a last minute inspection after they left. She was down in the basement and found a ten
dollar Hong Kong coin sitting out in the open.
This coin was missed by us and the cleaning crew after repeated attempts
to clean the basement. Yet, it was
there. Why is this interesting? Many of you will remember Brian used to go to
Hong Kong several times a year for his job in the toy industry. The coin was also dated “1995” – which is the
year Susan and I got married. Some will
say this is just a coincidence. We
believe it was a connection from Brian and him letting us know he is still with
us.
2. I was driving back from Cincinnati Airport and was
listening to the last seconds of the UD/St. Joseph’s game on WHIO. I said a
little prayer to my brother: "C'mon Brian, please help UD lose." I
thought: "Man, this is not really Christian, praying for them to
lose." Then, I said "I don't care, I want them to lose badly and so
would my brother." I then listened to the homer announcers on WHIO
describe the push-off, Galloway hitting the three, the no call and then three
minutes of non-stop CRYING/blaming the refs about "what a terrible way to
lose." I don't care if it was true - and the refs screwed them – IT WAS FREAKIN'
GLORIOUS! – and I am glad Brian helped.
3. Patrick had his
basketball banquet Sunday at the Wetherington Country Club. Kid ate three omelets and then demolished a monster
porterhouse steak later that day.
Amazing. Well, the club had a signup
sheet for the NCAA tourney and was selling squares. One of contestants was named “Brian McCormac.” Pretty close!
4. Not really a
connection – but it was a great Brian story.
Once when we were in New York City (Brian was still at Xavier) and it
snowed. Brian did not have a hat. He bought a simple black knit cap with “Harlem”
tastefully embroidered on it. He told me
a few days later he went to United Dairy Farmers (UDF) to buy something and was wearing
the hat. The clerk said to him: “Harlem?
You ain’t from Harlem!” Brian
said (in a hurt/aggrieved manner) “How do you know!”
Miss you Brian! Help X tonight. Love, your brother.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)