My first Account with find a grave, from 2006.

https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/46815847

this site has merged both in Flowers.

however I no longer have AOL, or that email, and cant get into it! eeks!.

Darrell, and two friends, Chad and Rusty, were slain in a store robbery on August 19, 1990. That was 36 years ago this coming summer. Darrell was 22 years old. A month from his 23rd birthday. I had known Darrell 5 years, and we dated the last 9 months of his life.

We met on November 5, 1986. I remember that vividly. it was an Indian summer that year, and warmer than usual. My boyfriend Geo had started a new job and I went out for a walk around the property to see the other shops. Before I even spotted Darrell, as I turned the corner this gust of wind was blowing the leaves, but i couldn't hear it. I noticed all the sound suddenly was gone, even the slight breeze, as I looked up skyward, I noticed the birds got quiet. I couldn't even hear the traffic on Garden Grove Blvd. Even Time itself seemed to stop. I remember my breath was louder in my ears. And then it changed again, and slowly the birds and the sounds of nearby traffic came back, and then I spotted Darrell. He was standing under a car up on a lift with his back to me. Dark hair and broad shouldered. I walked over to the work bay where he was, and stopped short of entering. I waited for Darrell to turn around and notice me there. I like doing things like that. However, just as I was standing quietly, Ken, who was Darrell's co-worker; and spotting me from above in the loft, bellowed loudly as he came down the stairs. "CAN I HELP YOU!?". the sound of his voice echoed through the work bays, and apparently Ken was thinking I was a customer come to collect my car. Darrell whirled around and started to make apologies for not seeing me sooner. I smiled at him and said I was just out for a walk. I explained my boyfriend had a new job a few bays North of us, and As I introduced myself I made sure to keep eye contact with only Darrell. Ken seemed like the kind of guy who was quick with his hands and I wanted nothing to do with him; so I kept my focus on Darrell.

The first time I shook Hands with Darrell, I shocked him with a static charge.

It took a year for us to go on a first date. He let me choose which of his 4 mustangs to take, and he had to hurry to get the seats in it. He restored Mustangs. Our first date is a very funny story, ( I had to pretend to fall asleep, he was SO Nervous!) We both had a love of cars and fixing them. He was amazed I knew all the names of the wrenches he used, and even more amazed when I got under his car with him. We went out to eat all the time, Playing "Duck Hunting" on our matching CB radio's and racing our Matching RC trucks. We were best friends for 5 years, and dated the last 9 months of his life.

In December of 1988 I got a Nissan Hard body 4x4 and that started our adventures in the Mountains and Deserts of California. Darrell and I went everywhere together, His best Friend Ken got an Amigo and we were going everywhere. from the Snow Caps of Mount Baldy, to Big Bear, to the Beach, Mojave, Dolan's Canyon, Calico Ghost Town, and everywhere in between.

I miss "My Darrell" every single day. Most of all I am very grateful for the one night in March of 1990, 6 months before he was killed, when Darrell screwed up all of his courage and told me how he truly felt about me. Darrell and I had no secrets, and said everything we needed to say to each other. For that I am very grateful. I carry that conversation in my heart until the day I join him.

I did know Chad Chadwick. Another victim in the Homocide. He was on a few of our 4x4ing adventures. We would meet the guys Rick, Peanut, Chad, and whoever they brought along, with Darrell and me at the shop after work. We had 4 to 6 trucks going in to the hills of Saddleback Mountain, Every Friday night at 5pm like clock work. So many fun times! That gorgeous night sky. I remember it all.

I have kept in contact with Darrell's parents over the years. Weekly phone calls, and using vacation time to visit. I even helped to pack their house when they moved out of state. It took me 4 years after Darrell's death to start dating again, and I got married and had a son 8 years after Darrell was killed. Then a Daughter. I think about the children Darrell and I would have had. He jokingly said he wanted 15 kids and I reminded him women still die in childbirth in this day and age. So we settled on 2 to start and go from there. Darrell and I had lots of conversations.

After Darrell's car accident, we talked about what his own funeral would look like. He thought only 5 people would show up. Me, his Parents, his best friend Ken, and Ken's wife Debbie. Darrel didn't think that his extended family like Grandparents and cousins would show up because they lived out of state. I am happy to report that after the Murders, At Darrells funeral, his extended family did show up, with about 200 others. Including a young man Darrell went to school with in 6th grade. it was standing room only.

I put a braid of my hair in Darrell's casket. I tucked it up under his left arm and close to his heart. He's never been alone in his grave for even one day. I know it's all dust now, but it's our dust. Science will always find us together.

I never met Rusty Williams in person, but there was one night Darrell was on a payphone with me (this was before cellphones were invented) And Rusty kept asking Darrell if he needed any help. Darrell was across the street from the shop, and Rusty thought Darrell's car had broken down, and While Darrell was on the phone with me setting up our meeting point, and Darrell didnt want to tell Rusty what was really going on. I was laughing because Darrell could not get Rusty to leave! i still laugh over that.

I'm 62 now. Thats a long time to grieve someone. I have only to think of the years that were erased. Keanu Reeves put it best. "I miss the things that never were". Our home, our Children we planned to have. A whole life wiped away. The years that were erased by one decision. Luckily, I do have so many memories of Darrell and I. Having a good time together. The Night of the bag pipes at the Pier. The bagpiper asked us if we were married and we both blushed. When Darrell was locking his home church at night and asking me to marry him there. He said he always had the best time with me. And I have agree. I always had the best time with him too.