Uncle Dwayne's Laid-to-rest Costs

Our beloved Uncle Dwayne passed away, Tuesday, March 6, 2018. He was 79 years old.  For years our uncle lived his life on the streets of Turlock, known to many as 'the rock man', or affectionately called by some as, 'Rocky'.   Dad was his oldest brother and Dwayne often visited our home. We remember him as a quiet-spoken man, gentle by nature, but always with a twinkling, friendly smile. Us five kids always looked forward to his visits, eagerly waiting for him to bring out his guitar and play for us.  He was a gifted musician and enjoyed writing songs.  They were deeply moving songs, always portraying something of his life experiences. Uncle Dwayne never married, and had no children. We know he served in the Navy, but are unaware of how long his tour was.  He was somewhat of a free spirit, and when he returned from his military experience he made a conscious decision to live out in the open where he felt most comfortable.  While Grandma was still alive, Uncle Dwayne often visited her at her small apartment, sometimes staying for the night. She always fixed him a bed on her couch, but in the morning she would find him asleep on the floor by the front door.  He told her the floor was more comfortable, but she knew it was because he needed to be near the exit. Once our dad and Grandma passed away, Uncle Dwayne started keeping more to himself; solitude appeared to be his comfort.  We knew he was haunted by memories of his past life and we did our best to reach out to him, to give him our love and support.  We always made sure to know where he was, checking the local shelters if we hadn't seen him in awhile.  It was hard for our uncle to accept help; there were times he was reluctant to even speak to us, but we persisted, as others have shared they did, determined to do what we could for him.  Sometimes he would give us that smile we remembered, and we were elated we had won his attention.  But there were times he would turn and walk away from us, and we felt we needed to respect this action from him.   We soon discovered our uncle had many 'guardian angels' helping him despite the solitary life he tried to live.  Some were businesses who would notice him sitting beside their building and offer him a meal; some were folk who grew up seeing the 'rock man' walking around town, or pushing one of his many carts and would stop to talk to him; there were even those special few who offered to read his bible to him and to pray with him.  We are so thankful God brought all of these wonderful people and businesses into our uncle's life.  It has given us such peace knowing he was not alone.  We wish to thank the Turlock Police Department for their help watching over our uncle; the bagel shop on Main Street; the old bread store that was near the railroad tracks, and so many places that gave our uncle a cup of coffee.  We especially want to offer a deep, warm and heartfelt thank you to the La Mo family for all the love and kindness have showered on our uncle.  We will never forget this! Our family chose to start this page to ask for donations to help with Uncle Dwayne's burial expenses. He had a small income from the government and is eligible for limited benefits through the VA, but it is not enough to cover the full burial costs.  We would like to honor our uncle with the burial we feel he deserves.  If you are able, we thank you for your contribution.