The death of Harold Chase was so painful for me.


Harold was 97 when he passed away on February 10th, 2011. I was told friday, February 11th, when I first woke-up by my sister. At first I thought she was joking but she wasn’t. I was so shocked. I started to cry. I did not want to go to school, but I knew I had to. So I decided I would tell my friends about it but if I called them, I knew it would end in me not being able to speak because of my tears talking over my voice. So I texted them the news. Each asked me if I was ok. I told them the truth. “No”

Harold was like my grandfather. My two grandpa’s died when I was real young, so I never really got to meet them. I met Harold when my family moved into the house up in York, Maine when I was only about 7. He was our next-door neighbor. I was surprised at how he was so old yet he cooked all his meals, went to the store to buy his food, and still went outside and gardened.

He was always so kind and I remember how he would always come over our house and sit on the porch with my dad and they would talk. Actually, almost half of my memories of him and him and my dad together. The other half of my memories of him are us sitting in his living in his living room while his tv showed men hitting a ball around with bats, otherwise known as baseball. Harold loved baseball so much. He would never miss a game or forget the scores.

One of my favorite memories of him and me is our tea parties. I would bring over a couple of my well-loved American Girl Dolls, my tea set, and some crackers. We would sit and watch baseball. I would play the organ that he had in the corner of his living room, and he would pet his beloved dog, Pam.

Pam was Harold’s reason to live as long as he did. Pam was part chow-chow, part Husky. She was very protective of Harold, but would instantly love you if u scratched her bum. When I was young, I thought that she was part of Harold’s soul. In some way, it’s true. She would be with Harold wherever he went. She was always wondering around our yard. Whenever we saw her, we knew Harold wasn’t too far behind.

I think the thing that will always remind me of Harold was his blueberry tree in his backyard. He would hand me an empty cool whip container and tell me to go pick some berries then come back and share them. That blueberry tree will be like his grave to me.

The worst part of this terrible journey was his services. I thought I was going to be ok but I was everything but that. I was crying so hard but I tried not to make any noise. In the middle of the service, my dad passed me a tissue of which I used the whole service.

I know that my family was heart broken and still is heart broken about this terrible death, but I’m pretty sure that this was the hardest on me.

Harold, I know this doesn’t really count as a proper goodbye but, hear it goes. You were so special to me. I feel real bad about not going over to keep you company more often because now, I’m wishing more than ever now that I could talk to you. I miss you so much. I will never have such great moments with anyone else. I know that you are now safe in heaven, but I just want you to know that I will NEVER forget you. Even when it seems like I have, I promise I haven’t. I will always love you. Tell you wife she has an amazing organ. I can’t wait to meet her. Promise me you’ll wait for me up there. It hopefully will be a while but everything good is worth wait for.


I love you Harold,



Jay