I first met Isaac at Elysian Fields Festival 2011. He was super psyched for Pink Moon 3! And then he started coming to work weekends with his best friend Paul Roberts. He was certainly among the greatest of volunteers, painting, building, mowing, dealing with trash, and exploring the corners of the farm with the rest of us. And every night he partied down with the rest of us! He was always such a good time, charismatic, and fun.
If you come to Pink Moon 4, stop by the small cement square just next to the first hole on our mini golf course. There you will see Isaac's initials, along with Paul's, mine and Seth's, and all of our all star volunteers from that weekend. Leave a flower, leave a kiss, and remember how many people it takes to build a strong, fruitful community...and how many are lost along the way.
Thank you, Isaac, for all of the smiles, laughs, and good times we had together. Pink Moon is for you, and all those we've lost along the way.
An untimely death is always hard on the community. Grieve. Love each other. Breathe deeply. Come together, and stay strong. And don't forget to celebrate. Celebrate Isaac's life, the joy he brought those around him, and the fact that he lives on in us, his friends and family. Remember him, but do not dwell. Hold onto him, but also let him go. Do not dwell. Don't ask yourself "what if?"...and don't blame yourself. Just know that, no matter what you choose to believe, he is in a better place.
We love you Isaac. We will miss you forever. Rest in peace, brother. Rest in peace.
For anyone who would like to read his obituary it can be found here (funeral details can be found there): http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesdispatch/obituary.aspx?n=isaac-lyle-wegbreit&pid=157563651&fb_source=message
- All roads lead to Rock Camp
Location:Rock Camp, WV
This is Isaac's Eulogy as delivered at his funeral on Tuesday, May 15, 2012:
ReplyDeleteSome of you knew Isaac, but many of you did not, so I want to tell you a little about him. Isaac was a free spirit, with a wry sense of humor. He loved the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Aldous Huxley, George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” fantasy novels, and Phillip K. Dick’s sci-fi novels, which he shared back and forth with his middle brother Cyrus. He was a great cook and enjoyed gardening. Isaac would have graduated Saturday with a degree in Chemistry, about which he knew vast amounts, even unusual terms like glial cell biology.
The day after he was admitted to Virginia Commonwealth University, Isaac was offered a Regents Scholarship as an incentive to attend. The joke was on them because they didn’t know VCU was the only college he applied to. Diane and I named him Isaac – Yitzchak in Hebrew, which means laughter – and he usually lived up to his name.
Moving from Abingdon, Virginia where he was born and raised, to Richmond in the middle of his sophomore year in high school was not easy, especially because it extended his school year by a month on both ends, but he took it in good grace. Isaac made new friends, but kept the old. Diane and I have been overwhelmed by how well and fondly he is remembered 7½ years after leaving far southwest Virginia. Yesterday, I received this from one of his former religious school teachers:
“ I, too, recall a wonderfully smart and funny young man with a puckish sense of humor. He was a challenge as a student at B’nai Sholom – but a lovable one, and one who could be forgiven easily for hiding in closets and challenging the order of things in class. I am proud to have known him and been a part of his life while you lived in Abingdon and enjoyed watching him grow up.”
Isaac was a soccer player and a weightlifter. He played right defender and was a starter during his JV season at Freeman High School in Richmond. As a weightlifter, he could bench press his own weight. He was health conscious, ate right, and kept himself physically fit.
Last summer, he was my guide and companion on 7 days of hiking in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. We hiked up steep mountains and up the Virgin River – in the river – and he never once complained about my plodding pace.
Isaac was skeptical of institutions – all institutions – and very concerned about climate change. Living lightly on the earth, and not exploiting it, or anything on it, was very important to him.
Last December at New Years, Diane and I and Isaac visited our oldest son Ezra, his wife Becky, and our only grandchild Alexandra, in Chicago – and to Allie, Isaac was a rock star. He was terrific with her – and though he claimed not to be fond of children – he won Allie’s heart and she won his.
This was the Isaac we knew and loved, the Isaac he would let us see and not hide from view, and the Isaac we want to remember and treasure. We all can honor his memory by living well, caring for each other, and protecting the planet we all share.
delivered by his father, Martin Wegbreit
Thank you so much for sharing. Our deepest condolences and a lot of love being sent your family's way.
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