The world is bit dimmer

Martin David Baechler's shining light went out at 6:30am on Saturday, October 24, 2009 and the world a bit less bright now.
Uncle Marty was my mom's oldest brother. He had many, many lives. First born son. Cool older brother (the local paper even covered it when "he came home for his little sister's wedding"!). Musician (The Strato-Tones and The Oriental Mod Squad). Talent manager. Successful businessman. Loving husband. Amazing uncle (he even wore a Chuck E Cheeses shirt for us!). Anyone who knew Marty was better for it.

Since shortly after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2001, he and his life partner, Karen, have been retired and making the most of their lives - summers spent at their condo in Oakville and wintering in Florida (where Karen's dad lives).

He was well enough to make the trip to Goderich this summer to see my brother, Jeremy wed his now-wife, Mary. It was a beautiful day.

The change from then until Thanksgiving was pretty dramatic, but I thank God he we were all together at Thanksgiving. All the cousins were there. All the aunts. All the uncles. Every single one of us was well enough to make it that day. No colds. No flus. No stomach bugs. Thank you for small blessings. Those are things that are truly important. Here is a picture of us together just two short weeks ago.
Jeremy and I went to Oakville on Thursday to help Karen put together some pictures for us all to remember Marty. We were able to see him and talk with him for a short while. Again, the change in two weeks was quite dramatic. I'm very glad we went. The last thing I said to him was, "We'll see you again before we go." Well... he was sleeping when we left, so we didn't see him again before we went. In fact, we didn't see him again. That was it.

I am happy that Marty will be at peace now. I am sad for all of us left behind.

Your light touched everyone that came in contact with you, Uncle Marty. My life was made better. Thank you for that.