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Obituary
Donald E. “Woody” Fallon, age 40, of Linden, NJ, was unexpectedly called to The Lord on Tuesday, October 7, 2008.
A devoted son, he was born on February 23, 1968 in Tuckahoe, NY to Donald Fallon of Mystic and the late Susan M. (McClory) Fallon. Donald was raised in the Groton/Mystic area and was a 1986 graduate of Fitch Sr. High School and graduated from the New York Maritime College with a Degree in Marine Engineering in 1991. He devoted his life to the Maritime Industry both at sea and ashore, most recently as a Harbor Tug Master in Bayonne, NJ.
Donald’s abounding love of life was apparent to all who knew and loved him. His jocular sense of humor and rapier wit was and is a continuing source of joyful conversation among his family and his many friends. He was active in local softball leagues in N.J. and was an avid fan of the New York Islanders and New England Patriots. But his single greatest joy came from being “Uncle Don-Don” to his three beautiful nieces, Devin, Avery, and Maerin Lyon. He epitomized the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “…to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived”.
Donald was predeceased by his mother, Susan; and is survived by his father Donald of Mystic; his sister Kimberly Lyon and her husband Matthew and their 3 previously mentioned daughters, all of Groton; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
His family will greet relatives and friends at The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, Historic downtown Mystic on Friday from 2-8pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Mary Mother of the Redeemer Church, 69 Groton Long Pt. Road, Groton on Saturday at 10am. (There will be no procession from the funeral home). Burial in Elm Grove Cemetery, Mystic.
A reception celebrating Donald’s life will follow at the Groton Lodge of Elks, 700 Shennecossett Rd., Groton.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to his mother’s favorite charity, Navy & Marine Corps. Relief Society, 875 N. Randolph St., Suite 225, Arlington, VA 22203-1977.
Here is a link to the listing in our local paper, The Day Paper
http://www.legacy.com/theday/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=118593718
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Please email me pictures so they can be added to the site. Please include the caption you want. skimaniaz@gmail.com
Any questions, comments, need for directions etc. I can be reached at 860-625-5062 or I will carry Woodys phone until this weekend. Norman
I am on Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/skimaniaz
Or on Facebook search using my email.
This page can also be reached from http://www.woodysmemorial.com
Eulogy:
Morning, I am Owen Kenny, one of Don’s many loyal and cherished friends. We went to College together, played Soccer together and simply enjoyed moments in time that nobody could touch or compare. Of-course besides me, Jake, Dean, Guy, & Norm, and all of his friends, there is his family, and I would like to thank Mr. Fallon, (Jacko) whom was really his best friend, and his Sister for allowing for me to do this.
We realize Don is in peace with his Mother.
Don’s relationship with his Father of-course was so close as usual, as a Friend, and not just as a Son. He loved when he could get a rise out of his Father when warning him of our Plans. He loved planning his trips down to DC with his Father for National Holidays. He loved his Fathers backround and love of the Country and instilled it everywhere he went. For years Don would yell at anybody who kept their hat on during the National Anthem of a game we were attending. I would always tell Don to relax, then I realized after a few years I enjoyed it, then would you believe I found myself doing it when I was at games without him. Don’t disrespect the USA and let Don find out about it – EVER. I mean anybody, anywhere. There was no such thing as Political Correctness with Don, but there certainly was no such thing as Political Correctness with Don if somebody disrespected the USA. He didn’t care who you were or what sensitivites should be extended. Dis the US, and you had a lesson – Don style.
Of-course Don loved his Sister, always so proud of her. Didn’t have to be anything specific just simply always so proud of her. It was plainly just the purest of Love, His sister was his sister, and nobody elses. I had to ask the name of his Nieces (Devin, Avery, Maerin), because as close as Don and I were, all I knew of them was the “Girls” or his “Babies”. As he always said, I am going to see the Girls this weekend, gotta buy gifts for the girls. Don so loved everybody, that I had trouble figuring how there weren’t levels of his Love or who he loved more than another. But I’m pretty sure I could crack his code when he talked about his Nieces – His Girls, his Love was certainly at its highest.
Don let everybody’s path in life and their choices feel as though they were right on target. The reality of a relationship with Don, is that he made you feel you were king or queen. Because really everybody was in his eyes. The moment you were engaged in a reality with Don, you were his friend. AND his friends were always meant to feel special.
Loyalty, He was Loyal to his Family, His Country, His friends, His Sports Teams, His Hang Out, His decisions, His beliefs. He would not change and he always had his friends back.
A friend of Don and mine, who was here last night but couldn’t stay today called me Thursday. He hadn’t seen Don in year or so, after years in the past of being together at Parties, Soccer teams and Laughter. He mentioned to me that looking at the pictures on Don’s memorial website just made him think of just how blatanly those pictures were exactly Don. It just came so naturally to think how true that was, how there was no other Don. All pictures of Don, are so easily recognizable because he was purely consistent. He was always always exactly the way we know him. There was no Upset Don, or Office Don, or Stressed out Don, or uncomfortable Don, or Watching the Market go down the Tubes Don. There was only the 1 Don, that we all knew exactly the same. And how refreshing was that !
People have hard time finding the permission to call him a friend if only seeing him once a year, but yet that is what everybody comes back to.
He was the only one who still thought I could have been a professional Soccer Goalie, I mean he was convinced of it. But certainly he was the only one.
He did good with his Sports choices, as the Yankees, the Patriots, UCONN as they were always winning for him at one time or another Unfortunately although he never lived a day on Long Island, I influenced him in becoming a huge Islander fan and certainly I didn’t do him any favors regarding that, unless his higher power can help them now.
So many stories to tell, how do I pick which ones to share, which ones to tell. And while I may have many. One thing about knowing Don as well as I do, is I don’t have exclusive rights on amazingly great times.
I suppose there are 2 Points. What should people know about him, for those who didn’t know him as well as some of us. And what would those who knew him deeply want highlighted. I can’t get past the most obvious of answers to both. A giant heart and a true friend. AND a friend not just to his friends, but to his family. His family were never just his family they were his friends as I mentioned earlier.
Don’s residence in New Jersey was a tremendous part of his life. He of-course loved his Hang Out -“The Cup”, --despite how many times I tried to tell him just to sit on his couch for a night or two. Don, as we know had to be with people. A friend from the Cup said it was his 2nd Home. But in a very real sense it so much more than that. Don knew that his spirit had to be moving. The friendships he started and maintained in Linden New Jersey was a tremendous force. There is an entire town down there in New Jersey that is heartbroken. Whenever I had the chance I would stop in with Don at his 2nd Home – the Cup. We all know he lived a Rich Life, but when he was able to be so close so often to all his friends in New Jersey, he couldn’t have been more content. Don’s family was huge, it was essentially an entire town in New Jersey called Linden. He shared so much of his Laughter, spraying it everywhere, teaching people to laugh until they cry. When you laughed with Don, there was nothing else happening in the world. Boy oh Boy did they love him in Linden.
While he was so Proud to be a good friend, I’m sure he knew that he was an outstanding Friend. Just as he was an outstanding Son, Brother, Uncle and Nephew.
6 or 7 years ago, I was having a beer with a neighbor from Holland. A big intimidating man who turned the conversation towards values of Americans. The topic became how Americans don’t understand unity and friendship as well as some other countries. He said despite the fact that I had many friends, none understood true friendship. He challenged me that I couldn’t let him call somebody and pretend he was Sergeant such and such and that I needed him to get here within the hour or I was staying the night in Jail. I of-course gave him Don’s number. Don simply said “Fine whatever, where I am going” He tried to make it tougher on Don and Don kept saying “just tell me where I am supposed to be and if I need to bring any money”. My Dutch friend hung up in frustration, and said okay well I guess that is somebody I consider a real friend. Of-course Don would have responded the same way regarding a phone call for any of you out there. My Dutch neighbor, who is now a friend of-course, recently came over with his family to say hello, just because they saw Don’s car outside my house recently, his wife and children always couldn’t wait to see Don. All of my neighbors looked forward to a party I may be having, I’m pretty sure mostly just to see Don. As over the years Don had the effect on them that we all are very familiar with.
He loved our stories and telling them to folks, so I’m going to have to tell a couple.
One day when we were in College we had a Soccer game in New Jersey. We didn’t feel like riding in the team Bus that day, so we took my convertible and put the top down. It started to Rain, but of-course Don didn’t want to put the top up. So there we were, stuck in traffic on the Cross Bronx with the Rain coming down on us. Don decided to make the best of it and started flirting with the girls in the car next to us in Traffic. Naturally it was an easy ice breaker as we sat there as idiots with the Rain pouring on us trying to get 2 girls to roll down the windows. Incredibly enough they took a liking to us and right there on the Cross Bronx in Traffic invited us to a party that they were on their way to. Don was willing to blow off our Team and the Game, I was adamant and unwilling to forego my responsibility as Goalie and Don as my Defensive Fullback. We fought in the Rain in Traffic and I only won because I was driving. He was upset with me and I had lost all focus and we suffered our worst defeat in 4 years together, we lost 10-0. I should have listened to Don.
One of my friend’s Wifes called me the other day as she was heartbroken as the rest of us. Even though she only got to see him a few times a year, she was almost concerned if she was allowed to call him her friend, since she felt she was once removed as the wife of a friend of mine. But she loved him like we all do, she mentioned that he was the only man that she was allowed to Hug beside her husband. She said she simply told my friend (her husband), tough, whether he likes it or not, when she sees Don, she is Hugging him. We know she certainly wasn’t the only one who felt that way. We all went to the Jimmy Buffett Concert last month, and Don kept calling her Baby Girl. After the concert she realized she started calling her 1 year old daughter “Baby Girl”
I’m not sure if some of you know this but Onion Dip was his pride and joy, every party I had, he made sure he was earmarked for bringing his Onion Dip and demanded the best trays for it when it arrived. What none of us told him though that it wasn’t that great, and when he wasn’t looking a good portion of it ended up in the garbage. However he was a very good cook with many many other items. There are countless times I called him from my Kitchen asking him how to make what I had already started, before realizing I didn’t know how to make it. One famous episode is when he was telling me how to make my Chicken Cutlets. I simply Texted him back “how come you didn’t make a point of “placing” the chicken in the Flour. He immediately called me up and wouldn’t stop laughing for 30 minutes because he knew what I did. That’s right I dropped them in the flour and made a mess of my Kitchen. He told that story for years.
His Loves were the Boats, and working in the Industry. Soccer, I mean I don’t even know how I can express his love for Soccer. There isn’t a word invented high enough above Passion to describe his feelings for Soccer, and how he would treat a single play on TV as detailed as Surgery. He Loved essentially everything from Family to Darts, Pool to Sports, to for crying out loud EVEN Poker on TV, which I always gave him a hard time about. We always joked about the same line, if we could ever find a way to put his immense knowledge of useless information to a cause he would be a Billionaire.
His T-Shirts, I mean what can I say that everybody doesn’t already know. The Themed T-Shirt Industry is definitely going to take a hit. That market isn’t going to know what happened.
Don would do whatever I asked of him. I mean literally whatever I asked of him. (I know it wasn’t only me)_ Fortunately for me I often asked him for one’s most valuable commodity – His Time, and it was always granted.
The Path to be Sad is right in front of us and it is a wide path. But don’t choose that path. Choose the path that makes you smile when you think of Don. He has had an effect on you personality, your life and how hard you are allowed to laugh (and HUG). So decide that when you think of him you are going to realize this is a heck of a lot better than have never known him. When you think of him, smile and you will bring him back in your Mind. And in my opinion that is the only reality that matters.
I can not figure out how to end a speech about Don because I’ll never stop speaking about Don. We will miss him, but he is with us, with all our shared memories, and if ever there was an enduring Spirit it is certainly Don, as he leaves us to be with his Mother in their eternal resting place.
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