These are my thoughts that I shared, along with some pictures of Craig, at the WLRA/AEIC virtual conference last October as part of the Remembering Craig segment:
My tribute is mostly about the personal memories and the notes I initially wrote just for myself, as a way of releasing my grief. I thought if I put down my thoughts in writing about what I have been thinking since I heard the sad news of his sudden passing, it will help me. I still can’t believe that it is true. I heard the sad news right away but for a couple of weeks, I thought it must be a terrible joke.
I think of him many times a day. I just had a dream the other night that I was telling someone about him and then I realized I was talking to Craig himself!
I had a nice long zoom/Teams call with him less than a month before he passed away. He showed me his new place. We planned to meet every month or so.
I was excited since he was about to be part of the DNV team working on a project I am involved in.
I have known Craig for more than 30 years. I met him in my first WLRA meeting when he was still working for a utility (Public Services of Colorado). I think it was in Las Vegas. My first memory of him is when he had to leave one of the later WLRA conferences early because Marlene was about to give birth to their twins Duncan and Phillip. Since then, we always shared stories about his twins and later about his daughter Charlotte. One of his stories that I recall is how Charlotte thought the lyrics to the song “There is a Bad Moon on the Rise” was “There’s a bathroom on the right”! He always managed to share a picture of his family in his presentations.
We kept our work relationship throughout the years. He always nagged me for not attending more WLRA conferences and every time I did, he was there, and we had a blast together. He claimed he had only missed one or two conferences in all these years.
I regret now that I didn’t attend more of them
He was also always a phone call or an email away for any technical question. He provided some consulting work for SCE’s Demand Response folks and through that, I was sometimes involved. He also brought folks from other utilities to SCE to meet my group and share our experience.
We became closer in more recent years mostly through soccer, maybe the last 6 or 7 years. I do not recall how it started but he always blamed me for making him an Arsenal fan. I have been a fan of Arsenal, an English soccer team, for over 45 years. But being an Arsenal fan in the last decade has not been easy on our wellbeing ☺ They were very good in the early to late decade. That is the reason for Craig blaming me for getting him hooked.
His first favorite team was Sheffield United (due to his family’s background and him spending time there when he was young) but Arsenal became his favorite soccer team.
I had never seen Arsenal play in person until they came to the US for only the second time and to LA for the very first time in 2016. This was a pre-season friendly (exhibition) game vs Chivas of Mexico at Stub Hub Center in Carson, CA. Craig wanted to come to town just for this game, but he came early so we could go and watch another game too. We had a blast watching our favorite coach and players. The best part was seeing so many other Arsenal fans who live around here!
He also met my family when he was here on that trip. Later he became good Facebook friends with my daughters and my wife because of Arsenal and because of their common appreciation and love for musical theater. I have not been active on Facebook for the last 3 or 4 years, but I always heard from my family about Craig’s posts.
We also shared sad and anxious experiences when both of our wives were fighting cancer around 2017, 2018. We had many phone calls during those hard times.
We had big plans for us to watch Arsenal in their last visit here in 2018. His plan was to watch one game in Denver and three days later watch them in LA. Unfortunately, because of Marlene’s medical condition, that did not pan out.
He also started following Arsenal’s Women’s team because they are so good and because they have a player with same last name as Craig. With my kids, we call her Craig’s niece. By the way, Leah Williamson is England’s current captain.
I’ve been regretting not going with him to England a couple of years ago to watch Arsenal play there at home in London. I know he had a blast there. He brought me a nice cap which I will cherish forever.
He has been participating in my small EPL fantasy league in the past several years though he did not do well last season. I texted him that with his team’s name, what could he expect? His team’s name was “Expecting Mediocrity” !
He was competitive but also very loyal. Worse than me. He would pick players from his favorite teams when they were good and giving him points but then was reluctant to drop them when they were no longer in form.
This season, after 7 games played, and few days before his passing, he came close to catching up to me in the standings. He had used a wild card to change his entire team and got the most points of anyone else in our league, and was only 4 points behind me (I am in 3rd place), I am certain he was going to text me and brag about that to me, but time ran out. At least once or twice a week I will remember him when I look at this fantasy league tables. Right now, our names are next to each other. I will check on his team every week.
He was always happy, and he always made me feel better about myself and life in general. That is the biggest attribute of him.
He was kind, generous, funny, smart, and a very nice guy. He was a wonderful and caring husband, father, son, brother, and a great friend
In my initial writing of these notes, to get off my chest notes, I was sadder and concentrated on his loss. But later I thought that Craig would rather have everyone be happy and celebrate his life than being sad about him.
Craig cared about things and people. So, go and enjoy every moment of your life. Life is short. Just enjoy it. Try to find a joy in what you do. Go enjoy a cup of tea, like he used to. Or if you are like Ted Lasso, and don’t like tea, enjoy your coffee. Go watch a ball game or a show you enjoy. Or watch a highlight of a team you like. Or discover something new.
Tell the people you love that you love them and give them a hug when you see them.
Thanks.
Cyrus (See-roos) Sorooshian
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