Martin (Marty) Franklin Neese 8.9.1963 - 9.19.2012

By Bill Craig
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dear friend and teammate Marty Neese, who passed yesterday evening at a local hospital due to complications with his heart and lungs.

Team C2CR2C, consisting of myself, Dondra, Becky Purkiss and BillDL, will miss Marty, his enthusiasm and his love for people and animals. Each member of our cycling team played a very important part in making the two rides (our first was in 2008) a success, but we honestly could not have done it without Marty, and we spoke of this many times after the cross country rides from Texas to Georgia to benefit Humane Societies as well as the Spay, Neuter and Adopt project.

Our friend had not had an easy time of it, having lost his 9 year old son, Joshua to Muscular Dystrophy  and his daughter Brandie to Ovarian Cancer at age 28 in 2010.

Dondra and I, as well as our son Jason and daughter in law Susan and our grandson Julian considered him not only a friend and team member but a part of our family as well. Dondra was "Mom" and Jason was "Brother". Anyone who never met Marty missed out on a very unique charismatic personality. When you met Marty, you knew that this was a person you would not forget.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday September 22, 2012 at Hope Fellowship Church here in Carrollton.

Rest in peace, Marty. God bless you and may we be forever in your debt.


Bill, Dondra, Jason, Julian and Susan Craig; Becky Purkiss and BillDL.

Comments

Unknown said…
My dearest Dondra and Bill,

Bill DL finally helped me to be able to log into the blog and post a comment.

I'm so very sorry to hear about the loss of dear Marty. Even though I did not get to know him personally, I feel like Bill and I got to know him well through following your journey so closely on the C2CR2C bike ride for the critters. Marty seemed like a very caring, giving, funny great friend to have.

I hope that all the memories you shared together during your life together will soften the pain of losing him.

Love you both dearly and thinking about you at this time of loss.

Hugs, Becks and Bill DL
September 21, 2012 at 6:25 AM
Margaret said…
Dear Dondra and Bill,
Your words about your friend Marty were heartwarming.
I'm so very sorry that you lost such a friend,
Hugs, Margaret
September 23, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Margaret said…
Thank you for the song.
September 24, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Bill Craig said…
Thanks to everyone for your condolences. Marty was a special guy indeed, who dealt with life's tragedies the best way he knew how: perseverance and helping others with a smile and nary a complaint.

I didn't know until the memorial service that Marty never knew his father, who had died in a house fire before Marty was born.

Before he died, he told his brother-inlaw (a pastor), "I just want to be with my kids again".

I want to thank also our friend and team member Bill Dalziel for the moving tribute he wrote for our friend.

Margaret, that song is an old Irish wake tune called "The Parting Glass" and it contains words our friend is surely saying to us: "Good Night, and joy be to you all."

Thanks

Bill Craig
September 24, 2012 at 3:43 PM
Margaret said…
If you google the name Margaret Buckley (my real-life name), you'll suspect that I might have a drop or two of Irish blood, Bill. I'm familiar with that song, it brought a tear to my eye, it did.
September 26, 2012 at 4:25 PM
Bill Craig said…
Margaret, I wanted to play that song at the Wake. It was easy enough to learn (G, Em and D), but alas, no one was asked to speak, so I played it for him here. I have a problem singing the touching songs anyway - I start to tear up and then the voice falters. I once did that with the Johnny Cash version of "Legend In My Time" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwRXYVCNHj4 and just couldn't get through it. My voice coach at the time told me that when that happens I'm being selfish with my audience.

Anyway, thanks for always reading and writing. I really appreciate it.

Bill
September 26, 2012 at 7:32 PM
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