I was not quite a year old when this tragedy occurred, but I had a personal connection to the incident as I worked with John Repasy, father of Jack, for about 7 years of my life. John, or J.R. as we called him, never talked much about the tragedy, but one particular day as I was mourning the loss of my best friend's sister, he sat down and talked to me and opened up about Jack. I remember my heart just aching for him as I saw so much raw pain still bubbling right under the surface. J.R. was a great man whom I loved dearly as a friend. I still miss him and think of him often. I can only imagine that Jack was an outstanding, special young man cut from the same cloth as his father. I visited with J.R. the night before he died in hospice and though he wasn't cognizant of visitors and his surroundings at that point and it was very difficult to see this once vibrant man in that situation, I was comforted to know that Jack would be right there at heaven's gates waiting for his dad and that J.R. would finally have peace on so many levels. God bless all those mourning and still wounded by this awful event. My prayers are with you all.
-Jill Branam
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