[Admin note:  This letter was mailed to Gabe when he was in and out of hospitals not long before he died and he was so grateful to receive it.  He thought it was so special -a little dose of an old childhood friend from Schenectady.  He showed it to us.  We thought it special, too, and clever.  Jared agreed to post it here.]

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A mutual friend of mine and Gabe’s reached out to me at the end of Dec 2023 with a gofundme link and that was how I learned that Gabe was in trouble. I didn’t know what to do, so I just started writing. I wrote the letter copied below to Gabe to thank him for all the wonderful times we shared growing up and how fondly I remembered them.  Below is a copy of that letter, which seems fitting to be shared on this site.

xxx

“Gabe,

I know it’s been ages since we last spoke, but when Sags reached out with the link to your GoFundMe, it felt like I got punched in the stomach by Mike Tyson. I did not write to tell you how I feel about your current battle.  I never forgot the letter you sent me after Justin passed in 2013 and felt this was the only way to truly repay that gesture. My goal with this is to make you feel half as good as your letter to me did all those years ago.

I thought about different formats or methods to use but kept landing on a brain dump of random memories from those wonder years. Let’s go:

1. Remember when I mooned the entire kickball field in third grade? That was the first time I remember being sent to the principal.  (not the last)
2. Remember the multi-year beef we had with Anthony K.? I can recall ‘pantsing’ him and putting thumbtacks on his chair, specifically.
3. I remember being in Mrs. Hurteau’s (spelling?) 4^th grade class, and how we kept repeating that we were glad that we didn’t have Mrs. H because of that story about her throwing a chair at a student.
4. I’m pretty sure we were both in that circle of attempted spin the bottle in 4^th grade during lunch, (with Maia, Jen R, Brenna, etc). We couldn’t find a bottle, so we played “spin the vacuum cleaner attachment” instead.
5. I remember our 5^th grade field trip (Mrs. Sinclair!) to that swimming pool in Rexford. Playing ping pong, going off the high diving board, the snack bar, etc.
6. I remember going to parties at Brenna House’s … house in the basement, more than one time.
7. I remember being jealous of the Christensen’s because they lived right across the street from our school. Especially in the winter.
8. I remember the full layout of your parents (Hi Dave & JoAnne!) house on Belmont Ave. I drive past it every single time I am back in Schenectady with a smile. I can draw the first floor and basement from memory. Weird flex, I know.
9. I remember your house had that sunken tub in the bathroom and I use to say it reminded me of a mini swimming pool. Still think that is too cool.
10. I always remembered that your birthday was right before my brother’s, so you would say every year “to make sure you said happy birthday to Justin”.
11. Were you part of the idiot club with Mike Puglisi and I jumping off those high swings when the chains were perpendicular to the ground at Zoller School? Somehow did not break a leg, but still believe that stunted my growth – that must be it.  Also believe we were the reason they took out the 18-foot-high ones for the 9 footers.
12. Remember how Mrs. Bowman always sat at the back of her classroom, smoking heaters out the window like the titanic was going down? How was that even allowed?
13. I remember walking home from Oneida down that little grass dirt path that connected Phoenix Ave where my grandparents lived and Belmont Ave.
14. I remember in 7^th grade, the day Dr Dre’s The Chronic came out. Me, you, Puglisi, Bailiff, Farstad and a bunch of others skipped school and spent the day at Mike’s listening to that CD on repeat. I also remember being the narc that ratted everyone out after Mr. Murphy put the squeeze on me. I folded like a card table. Sorry!
15. I remember going to Maple Ski Ridge in 7^th grade with you and my brother. You were in ski club with him, and he wanted me to learn to ski. I was embarrassingly bad. I fell and came out of my boot, still attached to my ski. It kept sailing down the trail while I waited for Justin to retrieve it. Everyone roasted me from the chair lift overhead. There’s a great pic of me doing what looks like a ‘hockey stop’ on my skis from that day BUT it’s really just perfect timing of a hard fall. (I did learn to ski finally when I briefly lived in CO in 2002).
16. I remember running up the down escalator in 8^th grade on the last day of our Toronto end of year trip and leaving part of my kneecap behind. I remember you and Sags being with me in the elevator back up and it broke, trapping us for 25 mins. It was all mirrors and you just kept trying to distract me because anywhere you looked, it was bloody gauze pads. (Sorry to your parents for having to pick you up at like 3am instead of the 6p we were due home).
17. I remember getting to leave classes 5-10 mins early to I could gimp up and down the 4 floors and not being able to bend my knee. You always offered to come with me and carry my bag.
18. I attribute my love of the Beastie Boys, Black Crowes, WuTang, Das Efx, a lot of other 90s music, and even Poison – directly to you. (Pearl Jam was Justin primarily, but you were on that train too).
19. I remember spending hours upon hours in your basement playing Super Nintendo – Donkey Kong Country most of all. We used to laugh that we played SNES at your house and Sega Genesis at mine.
20. I remember sneaking in your brother’s room when he wasn’t home because he forbid us from ever going in there. (sorry, Justin – we didn’t steal, touch or break anything!). He had a Poison poster over his bed – that’s probably why I spent countless hours drawing that band logo in my middle school notebooks.
21. Were you with me that year on Halloween in middle school that we walked to Laura Benequisto’s house for a party, but we got bag snatched on the way by some high school kids? I remember my night was shot and just went home after that.
22. I remember when you’d come up to the lake and how cool it was that you knew the Goyette’s because your dad and Skip Goyette were both electricians.
23. I remember your admiration of the Knicks (name a bigger John Starks, Patrick Ewing or Charles Oakley fan than you – you can’t); along with the Giants (LT), the Yankees and boxing.
24. I remember your fondness of movies like GoodFellas and A Bronx Tale. Still two of my favorites to this day.
25. I do NOT remember playing any little league or baseball with you, because Justin and I never wanted to give up time in the summers at the lake.
26. I remember all the sleepovers at my house, my camp, Sags’ house, Matt Hoeft’s house, Brandon Hudson’s house over the years. Pretty sure my snoring disrupted everybody’s night sleep.
27. More recently, I remember seeing random Facebook birthday messages from ‘Charlie Moran’. One year specifically, you were in New Mexico or maybe Texas, and the message said, “Happy birthday kid, wish you were here – I’d buy you a beer”. That made my day.

(27 Yankees World Championships, 27 random bullets – coincidence?  I don’t think so).

I think of you often and all those great times we shared. This is just a random list, but I can keep going for pages like an extended directors cut of Stand By Me. You always reminded me of Teddy. Not because your dad tried to burn your ear off – because he didn’t. Just a stereotypical great friend that becomes a thread stitched in your childhood memories.  Looking back, I’m immensely grateful for that.

Most of all, I remember thinking how cool you were (are) and how you made a nerdy little chubby kid like me, feel cooler just by association. That’s something I can’t repay you for.

Hopefully this random list sparked that smile, some laughter, and memories of your own. Maybe it made you question why we were buddies – I wouldn’t blame you.  As much at it pained me to read, I am thankful Sags passed along that link. True to form, you would go on fighting this battle without anyone knowing otherwise. There are a lot of people praying for you and sending strength. You are a good person, a class act – always have been. This disease picked the wrong MF to battle and you will win.

So much love to you, your parents, brother, wife and children.

Talk soon”