Hello everyone,

I (Delia) have not yet gotten around to writing individual "thank you" cards. In the meantime, here is a re-post of my October 16th message on Facebook:

I'm grateful for all of my family who flew out to San Diego to be with us this past week. The events on Saturday went as well as they could have. Love was the overarching emotion. Some of his friends travelled from as far as Boston and NYC to be here to honor Orion. Some of his friends from elementary and middle school showed up as well. I am thankful to all of his friends who took the time to be there, and for sharing their stories and sentiments about Orion with me. I hope that Orion was able to feel how much people loved him and what an impact he made on so many. There were common themes of his loyalty, standing up for others, how he made people feel like they belonged, and of course, how talented and funny he was. I am proud that my son left such a positive mark on the world.
There was a great lineup of talented musician-friends who played at the Celebration of Life, and I could see it was cathartic for many of his friends to be up on stage. Although she is not on Facebook, I need to give a shout-out to my good friend, Anita Herrera-Hamilton, who volunteered to help with decorations for the event and took this task to a whole other level. She enlisted a group of volunteers to help, got donations, and turned the event venue into an absolutely beautiful space. I am still blown away by all of the support people have given us through all of this. I have a lot of people to thank: friends (old and new!), the parents of Orion's friends who also helped with the event, my psychology friends and colleagues who have reached out to me, my coworkers, friends of friends who made donations (by the way, over $6,000 was raised for the Central California Asthma Collaborative!). Personalized thank-you cards to come, but it might take me some time to get to everyone, so I wanted to start with this huge, generalized "thank you" to start.

For people who would like to visit Orion's memorial niche, it is located at the Holy Cross Cemetery's mausoleum. It is in the niche wall west (left of the entrance), second row from the bottom on the left, about three sections down.

Here is the link for the tribute video of Orion's life: https://www.youtube.com/watch…

If—
by Rudyard Kipling
(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

We (Orion’s family) are so grateful to all of you who came out to support Orion. It was heartwarming to hear all of your stories and sentiments about him. There was so much love, and knowing that he made such an impact on so many people helps to ease this pain we’re going through. Thank you for being there ❤️

If you have pics or videos to share, please upload them on this site, or text to Delia at 619-709-7902.

Here is the link for the Tribute to Orion video about his life: https://youtu.be/IUGMt-_FQVI?…

It appears that some people did not see the third event on the page, which is the Celebration of Life party happening at 5pm on Saturday. Please note that there is still room for more people for this event.