I want to start by thanking you all for giving me the chance today to say a few things about a very important friend to me. A friend that regrettably, and with humble understanding, I only partially knew… but neverless, Rory was, in my life, one of my best and most influential friends.

Rory had many talents. (picking up pencils with his elbow, contagious laughter, slapping my jumpshots well off the court while still having the foresight to utter ‘get that’ followed by the common noun, and a perfectly timed ‘outta here’…)

… among countless others,

But to me one of his most admiring aspects was his ability to pull people together. We all knew Rory, and for some of us seemingly a different Rory than others of us know… possibly even a different Rory than anyone else may ever know...

… What is simply amazing about this obvious fact, is that he was so good at knowing so many people. He is, today, an integral part of many, previously unconnected groups. Someone who’s life threw at him the opportunities to meet and know people in our own neighborhoods that might not find a common way to get to know each other… would often find themselves knowing perfect strangers, through Rory. Rory could sometimes be anyone to everyone, but wasn’t afraid to question the conformity of it all, and challenge each person he met to grow beyond themselves. I don’t believe he took any of his friendships for granted, and I know I don’t take his either.

For those who I haven’t met yet, my name is Jeff… and Rory became a close friend of mine in high school, and I’m proud to say we’ve maintained that friendship through many defining parts of my life.

To me, Rory was a true, present day Romantic. He grew way beyond me with passionate admiration for music, poetry, movies, writing, drama. He fell in love before I was even comfortable mentioning the word…

Since then I have had the lucky experience of going through self defining events & moments throughout my life… as we all have. Previously I’ve had times where people have accused me of making questionable decisions – conscious actions with a total disregard of ‘reality’. Of internalizing my emotions towards things that at the time were completely counterproductive to my everyday happiness. Of forming achievable dreams and twisting them into entertaining and sometimes laughable directions, and then fighting 110% internally with myself to make them real… …and times where I found myself feeling alone, misunderstood, questioning my own thoughts – and reviewing my life from another point of view.

I’m not ashamed to say I found a kinship in Rory… and inspiration. I know I borrowed on the passion that I knew from Rory. I admired, and aspired, to grab onto those feelings, those moments, and found happiness again in my own, yet shared thoughts.

Last night I was wavering on what I could say… that may be needed in some way to be said… But being up here now, sharing some of these emotional thoughts of mine with you is my testament to Rory, to what he inspired me to overcome, which allows me to be here now, in an attempted tribute to everything positive I knew in him. I’m up here talking about myself because that is what Rory IS… for me. And because I know, and all my life I have seen and admired, the same effect he has had on many people in this room… and many more than I’ll ever know.

I am the person I am today because I considered Rory a good friend for a big part of my life… a better person than I can imagine to be without him.

There are others here today that have had a similar, influential effect on me, my thinking, and my life… as Rory recently described himself, ‘alpha versions of humanity. Remarkable people make for remarkable friends.”

…

… and finally this leads me to try to say the thing I need to say, wish I could try to say again to Rory - That these lives and many more, that are all here today and some not, are forever influenced by his friendship.

I can say goodbye to my friend, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to separate his influence from me. I look forward to his continued inspiration on the way I choose to live my life from this day on.