Hi I am honored to speak on behalf of the Cushman family.

First, I’ll start with some of my own memories.

I have so many memories of Mikey so I’ll share just a few. Many of my memories stem from the summer “cousin” trips that we took exploring the northeast. During these trips some collection of Kim, Denny, Paul, Mike, Jen, Andy, Eric and Katie would arrive in Blossvale at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and we would pile into a van and spend a few days together. We camped at Lake George and Ausable Chasms where on both occasions we experienced monsoons! We also visited Woodstock, New York City and Washington, DC. On the van rides, each cousin brought a cassette tape with their favorite music. Katie brought Fritz’s polka band and, not surprisingly, Mikey brought heavy metal rock. Andy and Eric brought tic tacs. Lots of tic tacs. Jen just tried to survive being with all boys.

Those who did not know Mikey as a youngster should know that he could have been the author of diary of a wimpy kid. He was a scrawny kid. I remember so clearly much younger Jen climbing mountains with no problem, with Mikey unsure if he was going to make it. I remember foil dinners that we threw in the fire – some of which cooked and some did not. We created skits to perform for their families on our return. And, I remember s’mores. Lots of s’mores.

As the cousins grew older the summer excursions came to an end. Mikey graduated from the same high school his dad attended as did his aunts Val and Sue and uncles Chris and Tim. You might not be surprised to hear that the mascot was the Camden Blue Devils. I think on more than a few occasions Chris bailed Mikey out of some small, let’s say, incidents (which if you knew Chris, is a little bit scaryeveryone, I am aunt Val and

!).

As Mikey grew older, he got bigger and stronger, and football became a big part of his life. I recall Mike coming to visit me at Syracuse University one day. He told me that SU’s football coach, Coach McPherson, was going to help him get into college and play football. I thought to myself, well, coach Mac hosts camps for 100s of youngsters each summer, all wearing helmets – he probably doesn’t even know what Mikey looks like. During the visit Mikey and I walked into Manley field house just to see it. I’ll be darned if Coach Mac wasn’t running on the track, saw Mikey, stopped his run and came over to say hello. Mikey made a big impression on everyone he met. It wasn’t long after that Coach Mac called Mikey and said – I’ve talked to the coach at Greensboro College about you. I think you should call him.

Many of us were in Greensboro when Mike and the Greensboro team played their first ever college football game. Mike was playing tight end on the first play – I remember it so clearly. His job was to keep the lineman from getting to the quarterback. The ball was snapped and the guy on the other side of the line from Mike crushed him to the ground like no tomorrow. It was after that when Mike really started to bulk up and become the hulk that we all know and love today. I also remember a trash can full of jungle juice Mike and Melissa’s apartment following home games. I can’t remember if it was that season or the next, but Mike’s dad and I drove to Newport News in Virginia to watch Mikey and Greensboro play against the Shipbuilders of Christopher Newport University. On that day we watched the Greensboro Pride win their first ever football game. It was an awesome day.

I’ll close with a final memory about our summer cousin trips and this is a story that Mikey told every time the family has come together over the last few years about “the talk.” I never had to discipline the kids on our camping trips, well, except once. That trip all the boys were constantly picking on the Jenny – the only girl. I pulled all the boys together, sat them at a picnic table and game them “the talk” about how girls are strong too and they can do anything and everything they want and that they needed to respect them. I take pride in how I think “the talk” influenced Mikey. You can see it in how he raised McKinley. I love the picture of Mike under a car teaching McKinley how to change the oil when she was about 4 years old.

I’d like to share a couple of memories from other members of the family.

Uncle Tim and Uncle Chris have lots of memories, but if they shared them someone might go to jail so we’ll just leave that there.

Grandma Cushman wanted to share that she often drove Mikey part-way to visit Mike and Diane on the weekends and that she attended as many of his school events as she could. When Mikey graduated from high school, he sent a hand-written note telling her that he always knew she was there for him.

McKinley – you are your Dad’s treasure. You know more than anyone that he’s an amazing dad. He will be a part of you forever. And, you will rule the world one day.

Mike, Diane, Jen, and Paul - there are no words that will bring you solace. You know how much you are loved. We can’t fill the void, but we will be by your side always.

Mikey – you took up a lot of space in every room you entered and that leaves a big empty space in our worlds. We’ll savor these memories and know that you are loved and will live in our hearts forever.