Alton Morse, Jr.

I remember it was dinner time, give or take an hour. Dad was tired and told us that he was going to take a nap. Dawn and I were in the livingroom, and I remember sitting on the couch loking at im standing on the stairs, telling Dawn, (who was doing homework I think) to wake him up at 9 so he could get ready to get mom from work. She worked up at Howard Johnsons on the turnpike. Some of the night is hazy, so I'm not sure, the next thing I DO remember is waking up in bed with Lorna in ouor room and seeing our Uncle Joe Malina, who was a cop in Kennebunk at the time. I said hi and asked why he was over in the middle of the night and he shushed me and told me he loved me and to go back to bed. Lorna got up, cause she obviously knew something wasn't right. I layed there awhile, then I snuck down the hall to where all the commotion was. I was standing in the doorway of my parents bedroom watching all these people just stand around my dad sleeping in bed. Dawn was kneeling next to the bed, crying and I think she was saying sorry. I just kept thinking, "these people are going to wake him up!" I didn't think anything but he was sleeping and they were being weird. I was herded down the hall back to my bedroom. I don't know how much time past but I heard noise coming down the hall so I opened the door to see tem wheeling a little bed thing with a big black bag on it. I didn't know what it was and didn't care, I went back to sleep and woke up the next day to my mom and company telling me daddy was gone. He's a peice of advise to you out there, don't tell your 7 year old child tat their dad is "gone" when he is really dead. Gone meant he went somewhere and is coming back at some point. And because Uncle Joe was there, and it was hunting season, I thought for a VERY long time that dad had just gone on a trip with Uncle Joe. Even after seeing him at the furneral home, in his casket, I didn't know any different. It's almost like I didn't think it was a real person in there. And to the people who yelled at me (not mentioning names) for giggling with my friend, what did you expect from a 7 and 8 year old that didn't know what was going on and all these grown ups were crying and making noise? It sounded funny to us.

The next thing I remember is putting him in the ground. I remembered I got to where this pretty dress that we borrowed from Cindy and Danny Goodson's neice. I loved it! I remember not being able to sleep the night befoore his funeral, number one cause I was sleeping at Cindy and Danny's house, and #2 I wanted that dress. I remember putting a rose onto his casket, but not really knowing what I was doing or why. I just did wat I was told. Then I remember awhile later John Ledoux bringing us a christmas tree as a surprise. I was happy but didn't understand why dad wasn't there to do it with us. Then I remember the crappy position my sisters were put in. My mom asked them, and I remember with my OWN memory, if they wanted her to fight for custody or if they wanted to live with their mom. I know this is my memeory because I was soo stressed and sad thinking all my sisters were going to leave too. But I heard each other them say they wanted to stay. I remember feeling what I know now to be a huge sense of relief. Thats what I remember about the day he died and the events that followed right after.