My Uncle Louie died this winter. Of all my great uncles, he was my clear favorite. I think all the grand nieces and nephews felt this way. When you were with Uncle Louie, you were seen; you were heard; you were recognized. Uncle Louie brought a little bit of God to all of us.

Like my Pop, Uncle Louie couldn’t have been Uncle Louie without his life long partner, Auntie Marie. They always seemed to be two puzzle pieces, fitting perfectly together to create a picture that would have been forever incomplete had they not had the other. Devotion is not a word to be used lightly; devoted is exactly what they were to one another.

In recent years Uncle Louie lost his ability to speak and walk and many other things to Parkinson’s Disease. While my Pop lost his mind, Uncle Louie lost his body. I’m not sure which is a more difficult in the long list of old age’s challenges. I always knew my Pop knew me, even in moments when he thought my youngest son was me, but it was difficult watching him slip away. Uncle Louie, on the other hand, never slipped away. His body may have betrayed him, but his eyes never did. When he saw you, they lit up just like they always had. Once again, with Uncle Louie you were recognized, perhaps even more so in those years than before.

At his service I looked at all those old pictures of Uncle Louie and his children, his wife, his brothers, all of them showed the essence of the man we loved: charming, kind, warm, proud, and above all, loving. I looked on with a bit of envy to his three children and wife who knew without question they were the center of his world; they were loved without boundaries or conditions; they had a piece of God everyday in being loved by Uncle Louie.

This is the essence of humanity: we all deserve to be loved in that way. We all want to be loved in that way. People who are old and have to consciously and methodically put one foot in front of the other to simply walk down street, people who are young and so easily lose their way, people in midlife who balance the day to day care taking of both young and old, we all simply want to be seen and loved for who we are.

In his special way, Uncle Louie did that for all of us. We are all better for knowing and loving him. Maybe this world that seems to be struggling for its very survival right now will have a better chance because he is in heaven watching over all of us.