I met my Squoosh Pie late in 2010. Billy tried to convince me to go on a date and I avoided his phone calls. A few months down the road he came into a restaurant in Boca Raton with his buddy Kevin and stood right behind me at the bar and stirred up a conversation. I said to him, we previously met, and he said I looked familiar. He began to scan his phone and finally found my number. You all know what happened next…

13 years later my Billy has left me! Billy had a ZEST for life (as Schuyler described on her facebook post the day he died). He did not want to die even though I couldn’t get him to eat, or get out of bed. On July 4th he told me he wasn’t ready to go yet, he still had things he needed to do. It was so hard to leave him that late afternoon. I had decided to go watch the 4th of July fireworks he so much loved. I went alone in tribute to him and to contemplate on the many times we did this together. It was difficult, not only going alone but to see those shining lights in the sky that reminded me of him. I cried the entire time of the display of lights in the night time sky.

Bill and I bumped heads a whole lot. Sue & Ted probably understand this best as I called them often for advice. James and Wanda Hanan must surely feel their pain as towards the end of his life, I probably called James everyday for comfort. When Billy and I became engaged in 2011, James was the very 1st person Billy called to tell him we got engaged. I think James was shocked but all I remember is how he and Wanda just wanted to meet me to find out who could possibly steal his heart again. I dearly cherish this amazing friendship that was built through Bill. I have so many fond memories of good times with the Hanan's with all the entire Schoonbeck Clan, and their spouses, children and grandchildren that make up this awesome group of people.

We didn’t always see eye-to-eye but when we did it was magical. We bonded so deeply on our shared love of going out on the town. Billy danced with me often, and the dancing took us away to where no problems existed. Bill loved to play music on YouTube and I used to grab him up off the sofa to dance with me where he’d stared me in the eyes that expressed how very much he loved me! Dancing with him was awesome. We loved to dress up, to meet our mutual friends out to dine at the newest restaurants, try new wines and listen to JAZZ. Billy introduced and taught me how to love jazz music as much as he did. We so loved coming up to Saratoga in June each year for the Jazz Festival and then again in August for Saratoga horse races. He looked forward to this and I am so happy to have been able to participate in these events he so much loved.

Billy was my squoosh pie, a name I gave him early on as I squeezed his lower back rolls and he giggled uncontrollably. I called him "my squoosh" (my term of my endearment), until almost the very end when I could no more because he had lost so much weight, there was nothing left for me to squeeze or pinch. My honeypie, my squoosh pie has left me and gone to be with God and I hope he took with him the knowledge of how much I loved him. I will love you always, my squoosh pie and we will meet again as I told you on the morning of July 5, 2024.