Raul passed away suddenly at home on Wednesday September 1, 2021 . Even though Raul struggled with Mental Illness, he grew to know so many people and touched so many lives. His presence on Mattoon Street goes back 23 years, and many will always remember him in front of our house waving hello and offering a good morning, and quick chat with whoever passed by. His generosity to his friends was unrivaled, always offering what he had to give.
I truly believe it was through God we found each other and I realised this young boy needed help. He was a skinny little kid bumming money on the street for food. His early bouts with schizophrenia brought him from Schenectady to Springfield somehow, and I discovered he was a homeless runaway. As I grew to know him we became friends, and many of my friends became his. He was a sweet smiling kid who just wanted to help others. After the death of my roomamate Jack Kelliher, I made the descision to take Raul in permantently and find help for this special boy. It was a year later he had a devastaing schizophrenic break, leaving him hospitalized for over 10 months. Not wanting this boy to fall into the cracks of the system, I spent every dinner I could with him in the Psych ward at the Hospitals they had put him in. As I was not a relative, I could not get him out to bring him home for out patient treatment, and into a loving home environment. With the tremendous help of my best friend Joe Santienello, Diane Misiaisek, Father Mark Stelzer, Attorney Sheila Mulholland, and all of my family and friends, we fought to bring him home. We finally found his mother Darlene Wilmarth through the Center for Missing Kids Website (the milk carton pics!) and with her loving approval I adopted this wonderful 125# 62" boy and we became a family. I never thought I would ever become a dad, and I had never in my life had been so happy and proud when he called me Dad.
We had 23 wonderful years together, going on Adventures, visiting our now blended families and just being a family. With the help of friends like Sharon Wiggins and many of my wonderful friends, I always tried to do new things with him he had never done before, and spend as much time as I could making this boy happy. He got to see broadway productions of Lion King and Hamilton. He loved our drives through Bright nights with hot cocoa. Our weeks at the beach house were some of the best times of his life. He deserved it with all the struggles he had doing daily things most of us treat as routine. The medications for schizophrenia put a lot of extra weight on him, and with that our battle with Diabetes began, to which he finally succombed. His sudden death has devasted me and our family. We are all heartbroken to have lost such a sweet loving man. My world will never be the same.
Please help us cover the costs of Cremation and the Memorial Services. Anything extra we collect will be donated in his name to NAMI (National Alliance on Mentally Illness) to help Families and others dealing with Mental Illness and Disabilities. We will be having a Celebration of Life for Raul in the very near future as soon as the details are worked out. hank you all for loving comments and prayers diuring this heartbreaking time. God Bless you and please hug your children no matter what age. You will never regret the last one you could give them.
