12-Year-Old Brandon’s Journal — Entry 43 — 5/11/1993

 

Last Sunday was Mother's Day, but it wasn't very pleasant. My uncle died on Saturday. When his girlfriend left to spend the night at her daughter's he seemed fine. She tried to call him all day on Sunday. She finally decided to go home. When she had gotten home, my uncle, David, was on the couch with his head between his legs. When she called us, my grandma was talking to her. My grandma started crying and shaking. My aunt started freaking out. We were lucky to have had our whole family there at the time. Yesterday my parents went to my grandma's and everyone was there. They went over to a church and said some prayers. They went to the funeral home yesterday during my game. They decided to have David cremated and we are going to spread his ashes by the Hoyt Arboretum. The police and everyone first though the cause of his death was because of his case of epilepsy. Yet now they think it is because of his alcohol problem. He was an alcoholic and he worked at a bar. The name of the bar was Patty's Bar. We won't know the cause of his death until the end of the week. My parents went to the Hoyt Arboretum today. The workers of Patty's Bar are going to set a gathering after the memorial. After he is cremated we go to the Hoyt Arboretum then to a gathering.

This is the whole reason I started posting these journal entries. It was a pretty big year for me, and this was arguably the biggest event of all.

What we found had happened was David had drank himself to the point of passing out. When he passed out on the couch, he fell forward and his shoulder got caught on the coffee table. He asphyxiated and died.