Editor,

A sense of community is something my father and I talked about regularly over the years, specifically how the success of a person depends a great deal not only on the support at home but also their neighbors.

He and his loving wife moved to Oak Harbor in spring 2013 and, in a short amount of time, they got involved.

If you have a quality product or provide great service, you can rest assured they support, or would have supported, you. I will cherish the memory of him acknowledging a small business owner for their extra effort the way only he did — a distinctive “pause/smile/wink” combination.

Maybe someone reading this is triggered into remembering his special way. While visiting this past year, several of my siblings and I saw first hand their enjoyment of their new hometown.

It is very unfortunate that he only had a year to enjoy the island as much as he could, but his journey didn’t end without introduction to two more gems. We were very fortunate to meet and work with Paul and Heidi Kuzina of Whidbey Memorial after he passed away on April 19.

They helped us with all the funeral arrangements and guided us through the painful process with incredible grace and respect, all while letting us have the intimate service we wanted to have for our dad.

He had a good life and we were grateful to be able to reminisce about our special times with him; he was a proud father of six responsible and caring individuals and we were so appreciative to send him on his next adventure so sweetly.

But not without a signature “pause/smile/wink” to Paul and Heidi for all their care and concern for our family.

Erin McHale

McLean, Va.