Eulogy for Nicholas Welsh Ritter

I find myself in the most uncomfortable situation that I can imagine, writing a eulogy for my own son Nick. When I was 13, I lost my 18 year old brother to an automobile accident. It was bad enough going through the grief of losing a sibling and I always wondered what kind of living hell it must have been for my parents. I now know exactly what they went through and it hurts to the core of my being.

What to say about Nicholas. He had many nicknames, but hated all of them. There was Bubba, Nickles, Nickle Pickle, buddy, bubbles, pickle boy, we mainly called him Nick.

Nick had a great sense of humor and his life's ambition was to be stand up comedian. I told him that he had to work on a routine and hone his delivery and we'd take him to open mike night at the Comedy Castle. He was excited about the opportunity to work blue. Nick was funniest when he was making off the cuff jokes. The other day just before surgery, I asked to see how his rash, which prevented the first operation from happening in March, was doing. With a sly look on his face and his best female southern accent, he pulled up his shirt while saying, “I just turned 18”, an obvious reference to Girls Gone Wild. Needless to say I cracked up.

Nick was a competitor and absolutely hated to loose at anything. Any of you that went to Special Olympics competitions with our group saw that first hand. There they'd be, the top 3 up on the podium, with 4 or 5 other participants. They dole out the ribbons to the 7th place kid who was happy as can be, and then there was Nick, on the second place podium slot, mad as hell that he didn't get first place.

Nick always wanted to play hockey and we were fortunate enough to learn about a local Hockey Program for kids with special needs. Nick immediately became a scoring machine for the FAR Flyers hockey team. In some games he'd score 7 or 8 goals. He played with FAR for several seasons, making it up to the Varsity team for a couple of seasons.

Nick never had it very easy. We knew in the womb that he would require open heart surgery shortly after his birth. The doctors wanted to wait as long as possible before operating to allow his heart to grow. His first 9 months were spent surviving, until the surgery. As he grew, we found that there were some learning disabilities that he now had to deal with. He started in a special pre-kindergarten program at the age of 3 and was in the Bloomfield Hills ARP program up until his graduation from Andover just a little more than a month ago.

Anyone that ever knew Nick loved him. He didn't have a mean bone in his body and got along with everyone he met. He was special that way. He was caring and gentle.

Before his surgery, I sat down with Nick to go over his will, and living will and directives. Not an easy thing to do with an 19 year old. When it came time to determine what should be done with his organs in case he should not survive, without hesitation he opted to offer them for donation. In talking to the medical staff at the U of M hospital, all of those involved with his case were stunned at the generosity of this 19 year old, and wanted to know more about him as a person, not just as a patient. The Michigan Living Organ donation representative was brought to tears by Nick's gift. She called him a true Hero and she was right.

Nick, your mother, sister and I will always love you. There will be a hole in our souls for as long as we live. You will live on in our memories. We miss you terribly Bubba!