Let's Not Meet at Your Funeral: Goodbye Laddie
C.I.B. Newsletter 8.2013
The news hit hard on a recently pleasant Sunday evening. One of the original members and architects of the Chicago Irish Brotherhood lost his battle with a brain tumor.
The mischievous mustachioed proprietor of “Just One More” is with us no more. On earth that is. Laddie Trychta was the beer slinging master of fun and friendship and his little corner bar on 25th Street was the home to a whole lot of laughs and saturated slices of life.
His legacy will live on.
Bar Room Olympics, 16-inch softball championships, birthday and bachelor parties, Super Bowl Sundays and horse shoes are just part of the memories. Yet it is the continuous remembrance
of good natured hi-jinx and Laddie’s snidely smile that prevails. That smile was always there regardless if he was dreaming up his next scheme or quoting his favorite movies.
“You talking to me…”
Laddie would quote DeNiro in Taxi Drive so often he named his damn dog “Travis” after the Travis Bickle character in the movie.
Laddie was a true brother who hosted the C.I.B. 3-on-3 basketball tournament fundraiser back in 1999 for the benefit of Terry Madden’s family after he was murdered.
Laddie was the best man at weddings and a pall bearer for the dearly departed; both signs of respect for a man who deserved respect.
A nice floral arrangement that said, “Laddie: Honorary Irishman” made it to the funeral home and everyone knew where the gesture came from.
Us.
It is amazing that the only times many of us will see each other in the future will be at wakes. It used to be at weddings, but since many of us are in marriage #2 and #3 is not an option, matrimonial ceremonies are being replaced with burial ceremonies.
Remember, no one is getting younger and no one gets out of this alive. So that’s why we, as an organization, need to make a commitment to each other.
Let’s not meet at each other’s funeral. First of all, it’s hard to get a corpse to buy a round.
More importantly, we need to avoid the regret that comes with handshakes and hugs as a friend lies supine for one last time amongst his or her friends. Let’s drop the “should have called” and “could have visited” guilt.
Keep in touch and keep in contact. In this day and age of email, Facebook, twitter and tweets and Irish pubs on every corner of the Chicagoland area, it’s not that hard. We even have Metra and Uber to make sure we don’t imbibe and drive.
Laddie is survived by his wife Sue and daughters, Kim and Samantha, and countless friends who knew him as a fun guy with a flair for getting others to grab a bit of joy out of life.
The C.I.B. honors a life well lived.
Laddie, you are with us in our every effort.
Laddie (third from right) and his mustached groomsmen featuring one clean lipped kid.