Louis thank you letter

 

Reverend Louis Eugene Olivieri

1962-2014

 

A few weeks ago I walked into Lou's hospital room and found him dictating notes to his sister Dolores.

"Guess what mom?" He said, in a raspy, breathless voice, "I'm writing my autobiography."

I smiled and was anxious to read what he had written. Louis was getting weaker every day and even then I wondered would he have time to finish. Sadly, he never got beyond those first few pages and two or three video notes.

 

Throughout his life, Louis was always writing, and it was always about God. He'd spent two years at Atlantic Christian College, and later, five years in seminary studying theology. You'd be hard pressed to find someone with stronger beliefs and a greater love of the Lord.

 

So, back to Lou's auto biography. This was new direction for his writing. Now, his notes contained random, fun memories of his childhood. And in thanking you for your kind words and thoughts on Louis passing, our family wants to share a few of the words and memories he gave us in his last weeks on earth. I am going to skip the intro that contains birth information and a story on how we got to Levittown, but this is where Louis memories begin - Levittown Long Island.

 

 

    "My mother was having some ladies from the Levittown Cerebral Palsy Association over the house that evening and had just finished scrubbing and waxing our black tile living room floor. She was eight months pregnant at the time. I remember that mom was in the bathroom when my sisters and I decided to help her. She kept the door ajar so that she could hear us, and she heard Dee say, let's help mommy but she didn't hear the white, gritty Ajax powder being spread all over the shiny black tiles! I remember she stayed in the doorway crying when she found we had washed the floor for her. My mother was sensitive about the nice things we kids did for her. (It took awhile but she was able to redo the floor before the meeting.)

 

    Another time we kids were all watching TV together on the living room floor. Since the floor wasn't carpeted I went and got a pillow for my elbows. My sister Maria was laying on the floor beside me and I asked if she wanted to share my pillow. I guess after awhile Maria decided she wanted the pillow all to herself so she pulled it out from under me. I ended up chipping my front tooth on hard floor.

    

    One day my Aunt Mariann was visiting and I had cut myself on a piece of glass. Aunt Mariann wanted to remove it but I was scared. She said I could punish her if it hurt. So, I let her do it. It really hurt and I was mad! I told to stay in the corner until I said she could leave. After a minute my Mom said, "Isn't' that enough Louis?" So, I had to let her go, but I was still angry.

    

    The neighborhood kids used to play in our front yard because it wasn't fenced in. Thing is, they never let me play. One day mom had a talk with them and next thing I knew, I was in the game! The kids let me score a touchdown and rooted for me the whole time. I was so proud.

    

    Later we moved to Bayside, Queens. Since we lived in the city now I could no longer attend school at the Cerebral Palsy Center on Long Island. Public school and I did NOT get along. The kids were mean and I was meaner! I was tired of getting pushed around and got into a lot of fights. I remember one time, when I attended PS 32, I even bit the PRINCIPAL! Yes. Nobody was going to mess with me anymore."

 

 

And so Lou became a fighter, not of the physical sort but more of a go-for-it no matter the odds kinda guy. He worked hard for everything he attained. There are so many stories we want to share but for now, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to say

 

thank you for caring about and loving

our Louis.

 

The Alts, Olivieris, McVeys and their families