Thank you for taking the time to read this.

My name is Maribelle Lococo. My father, Michael Lococo, passed away unexpectedly on September 25th in his apartment in Ohio. He was alone when it happened and wasn’t found for nearly two weeks. That reality has been hard to sit with no matter any complications we had with him. The love we had for him is still there, regardless, and it’s been a hard couple of days in grievance.

The truth is, my relationship with my dad was complicated. He made choices in his life that caused harm to others, and those wounds don’t disappear just because he’s gone.

But he was still my father. And at one point was little Maribelle’s entire world. But now, his final affairs have fallen on us to handle while in grief— not out of celebration, but out of responsibility… and maybe, in a way, closure.

With urgency to get there soon, my mother, Adelia (his legal wife), and I need to travel from California to Ohio to take care of everything he left behind —his cremation,  the legal processing, clearing his apartment, and making sure everything is handled properly. With help from his life partner, Cheryl. Whom we are incredibly thankful for. He had no savings, only debt. There is no financial assistance available to help with this.

So we’re humbly asking for support — not to honor his memory, but to help us close this chapter with dignity and peace. To take care of what needs to be taken care of so we can move forward with lighter hearts and let my father rest in peace.

Your contribution will go directly towards his cremation, legal fees, travel expenses for myself, my mother, and my young daughters, as well as any related fees involved in the process. Truly, any amount helps. And even if you can’t donate, sharing this, praying or sending kind thoughts means more than you know.

If you’d rather support through an exchange, I also have items listed on my eBay and Poshmark stores — purchasing from there helps us just the same.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for helping us carry this with grace. And thank you for allowing us the space to seek healing — even through complicated loss.

— Maribelle Lococo & Family