Support Jen and Jason After Sy's Passing

Hi, my name is Jen. I am Sy's oldest daughter. I also have a younger brother, Jason. With a heavy heart, I am sharing the news that our father, Sylvester (Sy) Cekalla, passed away on Friday, October 18th, 2024.

This was completely unexpected. He was wide awake and active with us during the day, then he went to his bedroom. After a few hours, I checked up on him and he was just laying there, staring at the ceiling, smiling. I tried to wake him up, then I realized he wasn't breathing. I had Jason call paramedics, and when they got here, they did the best they could, but he was gone. At least we know he went to see his wife, Colleen (our mother), with a smile on his face.

October 29th, 1983, is their wedding anniversary, which has always been a tough day. When our mother passed, they had been together for 33 years. This year would have been their 41st anniversary.

We're always going to miss his laughs, playing games (Cribbage, PayDay, and Monopoly were his favorites), and we will miss his many stories. We love you, Dad, so very much ❤️. Give Mom a hug from us, and I hope you feel the hugs from me and Jason too.

We are hoping to reach our goal of $10,000 as we're having a really hard time right now. Having lost our dad's income is making rent and other expenses very difficult. Also, our dad didn't have a life insurance policy when he died. We had one for him at one point, but in the last year, between him going back and forth to a TCU and mail getting lost between his address somehow being changed to both there and here, we lost the policy and were unable to recover it.

Dad's wishes were to be cremated and his ashes mixed with Mom's, so that is what we are doing. We don't currently have a date for a celebration of life, but we are working on it. When a date is figured out, we will let you know.

Thank you for reading our story, and we really appreciate your help at this difficult time. I understand money is hard for everyone right now, but anything helps. If you can't donate, we understand. You can always help by sharing our story on any social media platforms.

Thank you,

Jen and Jason