Bon Voyage and Farewell

Tears and smiles filled the day yesterday. A celebration of Al Sandecki’s life was held in San Jose. Al is my son’s father-in-law. More than 130 people gathered together at Al’s church, St. Victor’s. Then the whole group moved on to Il Fornaio, Al’s favorite restaurant, for a sumptuous lunch.

It was a most unusual gathering. We were presented with leis in the restaurant’s foyer. The tables had puzzle box centerpieces. Huge stacks of puzzle boxes and flowers were the decorations in the restaurant.

If you didn’t know Al you might wonder what this meant. All of us attending the Bon Voyage and Farewell knew immediately. Al loved to go on cruises and he managed to include many, many friends and his family on these ocean jaunts. He also loved jigsaw puzzles and bought them and put them together all the time. Al’s daughters brought 500 puzzles to the gathering and we were told we had to take at least five home with us.

His daughters, Toni, Sheri and Angie pulled hundreds of photos of Al’s life and these were projected on a screen during the luncheon.

Al also had to be one of the world’s busiest sports, concerts, theatre, and movie goers. He had season tickets to all the major sports games, plus season tickets to live theater productions in the Bay Area, and in his spare hours he went to every single movie that opened in San Jose. He made sure that all his friends and family were invited too.

A most important piece of his friends and family’s life is missing now. The puzzle will never be the same again.