Family and Friends,

May I ask a favor?  Can you imagine I am speaking just to YOU?  If you can, I’ll have a better shot at communicating how sincerely thankful our family is for you and all you did for us during David’s illness, death and now in honoring his life through these baseball donations.  You came under us in incredible ways and we want to thank you.

You sent little parts of yourselves in more different ‘vessels’ of love than could possibly be described.  There were almost 600 cards and letters, (That’s not a Davy Schrec Round-it-Up-To-Make-A-Better-Story either!) You sent poems, all kinds of books and DVD’s, homemade chocolate chip cookies, homemade macaroons, some kind of lemon cake, and flowers-oh my!.  It would be impossible to list the different kinds of floral creations that came to this house and to the farm.  Clothing arrived with every Steeler/Penguin/Pirate logo imaginable.  Chocolates that should be illegal.  We received a gazillion pounds of chip chopped ham and BBQ sauce we “Burg People” all know and love.  There were incredible perogies, the best homemade pasta sauce ever, ice cream galore, extra baby monitors, CBD oil, fresh strawberries, juicy organic pears nestled in a beautiful basket, candles and homeopathic creams to comfort and relax. The gentlest wind chimes came and sing to me every day from the back patio. One of our neighbors carried our trash back and forth to the curb faithfully every single week.  Another neighbor ran to the store for me again and again, sometimes very early in the morning or very late at night.  One family moved a hanging chandelier in the dining room to make way for the hospice bed.  I can’t count all the candles lit or masses offered up for our circumstances. There is the digital photo album that so many of you filled up with wonderful memories for David’s last days.  Caring calls that didn’t even get returned.  Plus, I don’t think we even know how many different friends pulled some kind of string to make something medical happen in miraculous time.  It was too hard to even know who was moving the next mountain.  Countless children colored, painted, glued and drew a special message for Buppa.  But trust me when I say there were too many to hang in one room.  When David was finally transferred into Hospice, his bed was set up in the dining room where there was plenty of space for all his equipment AND every piece of handmade art!  He certainly did not come home from the hospital that last time to an empty room-thanks to your children.

My concern is I will forget to mention some thoughtful thing that YOU did for us.  So, again I say whatever you did or wrote or said in love during that difficult time, it was so appreciated!   I cried more than once as I opened the front door to find yet another “Ding Dong Ditch” sitting there all by itself on the porch...often with no card or name to even identify the giver.  I only knew it was someone who cared. 

Then there was Caring Bridge.  I know you know, how much he loved CB.  Thank you.  Daily, it was a source of love, of prayer and of encouragement for a man who needed and appreciated every entry!   And many of you donated to that worthy non-profit too.  It was also on Caring Bridge we announced THE BUPPA SCHOLARSHIP FUND.  I have no idea what the final total will be. We certainly won’t close up the giving.  I do know that currently we have gone over $13,000!  How can generosity like this be measured? More kids than we’ll ever know will experience the joy of baseball.  And who knows what kind of ripple of goodness that will ignite?  I suspect none of us will ever fully know the difference YOU made honoring Dave Schrec this way.  Again, we are so thankful.

This note and our accompanying celebration photo card is replacing any sort of final gathering for Davy. Our family needs closure and COVID has made it too hard to continue to wait.  Nonetheless, to this husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, teacher and coach, we say collectively…

                                                                                          WELL DONE BUPPA!  

                                                                               November 1, 1942 - June 7, 2020

In love and friendship,

The Schrecengost Family

We worked diligently to deliver a hard copy of this note and accompanying memorial card to everyone's old fashioned mailbox.   If we did not get one to you, we sincerely hope that you will accept this digital version, along with our heartfelt thanks, for all of your support.