Wedding and Funeral Memories

Their first dance

Chaz and Kim chose Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind,” from the 1992 album Lucky Town, for their first dance at their wedding.

Dave Donnelly remembered that Chaz was proud of this choice because he felt the song captured what marriage meant: walking together, helping one another, and waiting when their steps fell differently.

The saved remembrance included the song’s lyrics. The song and its personal meaning are preserved here by title, credit, and description.

The funeral prayer card

Dave Donnelly preserved the following poem from the prayer card at Chaz’s funeral. The saved page does not name its author.

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one,
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when day is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun,
Of happy memories that I leave behind when day is done.

Its wish for happy memories echoes the warmth in Chaz’s own stories and in the photographs gathered here.