Chuck Rajca

Dad was a big person about quality over quantity. He didn’t have time for “playing games” as he always reminded us, and he would rather spend time watching one of his sci-fi shows that I never understood, or doing a crossword puzzle or jigsaw puzzle. The people who were of quality to him were so special and important in his life. Some of these people were not quite people but also dogs. He loved his sheepdogs and he hoped that they were all waiting in Heaven to greet him when he got there. Dad’s growing up story always amazed me, he was an orphan by the time he was 14. He defeated the odds against him and worked his way up through Villanova undergrad and Temple law through his own determination and willpower. I was always so proud of him listening to his stories. One of my friends recently said how she remembers my 30th birthday and how generous my dad was in throwing a party for me at a nice restaurant in Baltimore. Dad was not someone who cared about “showing off”, but he truly just wanted the people he loved to have the best of everything, that was his purpose in life, he made sure his loved ones had everything growing up that he was never able to. He was the hardest worker I know. He literally worked up until the Friday before he started hospice. He loved to work, and his business brought him as much joy as it did stress. Even though he worked basically every day of his life, he always, always made time for his kids sports or dance events, he never missed a game or a dance recital or competition. Even with his grandkids, he tried to make every soccer and baseball game. His family gave him such joy, I had to tell him multiple times while on hospice that his job was done, he quite literally worked his days away to provide the best life for us, which he did. Dad loved to travel. One of our favorite memories is traveling to Bermuda. He encouraged me to study abroad in Sydney when he knew I was scared to do so, and it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. He also loved going to musicals with us growing up, and continued to do so with mom. He also loved concerts like Billy Joel and Michael Buble. He was so smart, we always said how he would be perfect for Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. Personally, dad was one of my absolute favorite people. He was always honest with me. He helped me pick out my prom dress and my wedding dress. For my wedding he came with me to every single dress fitting. He also helped Sean pick out my engagement ring. He even attended our food tasting. I trusted him and he trusted me, we just “got” each other. I remember one moment during our wedding, during cocktail hour when we were done with photos, he had gotten me a plate of food and he and I had such a nice moment just standing together talking and eating in the midst of the celebration. Dad had the weirdest sense of humor. He had the typical dad jokes and would talk and even make up songs for our dogs growing up. There was a video a blogger put out a couple of years ago about the “dad” and I remember laughing hysterically because everything in that video described dad, from the tube socks to the jokes. These things that I always thought were so odd and goofy growing up will be cherished memories for years to come, and silly stories that I can tell my kids about him. Dad was a story of contradictions. He was so strong yet emotional, he had a temper yet was so kind, he was so funny yet so serious, and so friendly yet so introverted. He was simply the best. Dad was such a stereotypical male when it came to pain, it always made us laugh. So, when he went to the hospital with some symptoms last October, I thought he and mom were crazy. When I found out that it was a tumor, our entire world changed. The past 10 months have been focused on fighting for him, making memories, and researching the crap out of his cancer. The prognosis is poor with this cancer, but he was doing so well, we thought he could beat the odds. He unfortunately had a recurrence that changed everything, but before that we were able to make so many amazing memories with him. Sean, mom, the boys and I were able to celebrate his end of radiation, complete with confetti that is still on our grass and celebrate his 65th birthday. He got to go to Disney with Owen and Connor, and he and mom got to go to their favorite place, the beach. With dad’s recurrence, he sat Sean, Mom, and I down and told us exactly what he wanted for when he passed. He was such a planner, and we all had to laugh about how he knew his time was coming and how he made sure everything was in place, even when I couldn’t admit it to myself. Sean, mom, and I were able to say the things we wanted and needed to say to him, and he said the things we needed to hear. His final words to me were “I love you”, and “who’s fighting” (my mom and I handled our stress those final days by yelling…a lot). He got his last hugs in with the boys as well. He fought until he couldn’t anymore, until mom and I told him enough times that we’d be OK without him, that he deserved some peace. The four of us and my parents always did Sunday dinner together. August 29 was our one final “Sunday dinner” with all of us in his hospice room, before he passed peacefully in his sleep. We will miss him every single day of our lives, but we are comforted knowing that he is at peace, that he is still with us, and that we will forever keep his memory alive through the things he loved and through our memories of him. Love, Alicia Dawn