Juliana Maurice

Honors Leadership Studies

Mrs. Godfrey

26 October 2020

My Story

On November 21st my mom, Haleigh, and I were watching my brother, Daniel’s, hockey

game at Gallo. Haleigh and I were sitting in Sam’s Snack Bar when a family friend of ours came

running in and immediately handed her phone to my mom. My mom grabbed the phone and her

face went white in shock, as she began to cry hysterically. My mom’s friend, Kiki, picked her up

and took her outside. My sister and I sat there in confusion having no clue as to what was going

on. Our neighbors came and picked my sister and I up from the rink and took us home. Once we

got home still no one had told us what happened. We called my dad, who was in Germany, and

he told us that my mom would be home soon and tell us what was going on. My siblings and I

waited eagerly on the couch waiting for my mom to come home. She finally got back around

eleven o’clock and told us that our Uncle Tony had passed away.

On a Friday night, August 12th, Tony had been officially separated from his wife for over

14 months and was in the court process of divorce. Tony had been supporting Kim and her

children for the past year during the separation -However Tony stopped paying for her residence

the month prior and she was unable to pay her way so she showed up at his home and he allowed

her and her daughter to stay with him at his house until the court date August 24th. Tony came

home after being out with a group of friends and sat at the kitchen table to go through the mail.

He came across a phone and credit card bills that had been run up by his estranged wife. He got

very upset and went to the spare bedroom where Kim and Paige were staying. He packed up
their things and threw it all over the banister into the front foyer and locked all the doors and

went up to bed. At around midnight Kim and Paige came back from wherever they were and

found they were locked out. And broke a window and crawled through to find their belongings

thrown in the foyer. Angry, they went to Tony’s room and started hitting him. He pushed her off

and she came back kicking and hitting him. At the point, Tony pushed Kim against the wall-

Paige saw this and called the police stating “My step father is hurting my mother”- ….. Tony

backed away and the yelling continued for a couple more minutes and then Tony walked out of

the bedroom and waited out on the front porch to wait for the police to arrive. The police asked

Tony to go inside while they spoke with Kim. But at some point Tony had a breakdown ( a

mental switch went off and he told himself it was enough - he couldn’t deal with this anymore

and he barricaded himself in the house.) Hours later - when he thought the police were gone, he

went out the back door with the one gun he owned that was not registered. He was cutting

through the green area behind his home to his friend Richards who lived in the neighborhood to

have him hold the gun for him knowing that he was going to have to deal with the situation and

police in the morning. It was approximately 50 feet from his backdoor to the back fence. Tony

ran across the backyard and tossed his gun over the fence, jumped the fence and when he picked

up the unloaded gun, the police who were hiding in the woods, shot him in the back paralyzing

him.

After his accident my mom went back and forth to North Carolina every other weekend

to go and visit her little brother. After a year, he was transferred to a rehabilitation center in

Western Mass. As a six year old, every day after school myself and my two other siblings would

pack the car and go visit him. At the time, this was my least favorite thing to do. As soon as we

entered the building and walked through the elevators, mentally ill old people would come up
and “pet” me and ask if they could have my dolls. Many of the times we visited I would faint

because I hated the “scary” people being near me. As a six year old this was terrifying for me

because I really didn't quite understand what was even going on with my uncle. Eventually after

years of being transferred from different centers, Uncle Tony was moved to an assisted living

neighborhood in Bourne near my house. All of my uncle’s other siblings live far away so my

family was the closest, meaning we were the ones who took care of him. For the following seven

years, my uncle came everywhere with us. At the time I was embarrassed of him because going

places was not as easy with someone who was handicap, everything had to be modified. Life

becomes very difficult when you can’t go to the bathroom or get out of bed on your own. And

after an extensive seven years of being paralyzed from the neck down, my uncle had finally had

enough. His life was flipped upside down after his accident and Uncle Tony took his life on

November 21st.

My Uncle Tony was the most genuine person I have ever known. Even though my uncle

was battling his inner demons everyday for seven years, you would have never known. Everyday

after school, my sister and I would go to uncle’s house and race him in his extra wheelchairs.

Tony really did have a smile on his face every single day. He tried his very best to provide an

exceptional life for his daughter Natani. At his funeral services many people came up to our

family telling us “I would not have my own business if it wasn’t for Tony.” “I wouldn’t have

bought this house if it wasn’t for him.” or “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.” These

are just a few of the amazing remarks we received. Uncle Tony left an impact on everyone he

interacted with. But most importantly he left a remarkable impact on me. He taught me so much,

whether it was from teaching me how to shoot a bow and arrow or teaching me how to love. And

because of him I have gained a greater understanding for life. He taught me to not judge a book
by its cover and search for the good in everyone. I know now that every single life matters and to

check up on every single person because you never know what someone is battling with inside. I

have never met a more beautiful human soul than Uncle Tony and I am forever grateful for the

impact he left on me.