Danelle Shumway sends -

When I knew Doogie, he was called Lynn-two. He and his family moved to Blanding, into the house across the street from me. I'm not sure how old we were at the time, I would guess that he was about 9 years old, while I was 7 or 8. I would go to their house to play with Audree, and sometimes we'd even let Holly tag along. One of my strongest memories of Lynn-two involved my very active sweet tooth. The day Lynn-two asked me if I wanted some candy, he was my new best friend. He took me to his room, knelt down on the ground, and proceeded to pull dated shoe boxes out from underneath his bed. One said, "Halloween 1982," (or some year in the early 80s) another read, "Mexico," while the largest had "Christmas" written across the side. I was so confused. But when he opened the lids, the boxes were, indeed, full of candy. My mind could not comprehend how someone could have access to all that candy and not eat it all gone. He let me pick whatever I wanted. The stuff from Mexico was disgusting and he laughed at me when I unknowingly shoved the whole piece into my mouth. I realized at that moment that Lynn-two was a very good organizer, had very strong willpower, and really liked a good joke. I also remember him explaining to me that I had to be very careful when I held his kitten. He was really protective of this one, because Audree and Holly had accidentally killed all the others. He was very sweet with that kitty, yet it didn't seem to phase him to bounce me off the Trampoline into the thorny rose bushes and then laugh when I couldn't get out. He knew how to frustrate his sisters and their friends, that's for sure. I hadn't seen him for about 20 years, but about 7 years ago he walked into the Wendy's I was managing. I looked up and saw his face, he looked exactly the same. I saw his eyes dart to my name tag. When we both realized that it was really us, I was really excited. I went home and called my family, "Guess who I ran into today? Lynn-two Hyde." It was neat. I was glad to see he hadn't changed, he was still smiling with that twinkle in his eyes. I wasn't shocked to learn he became a pilot, he loved to drive his 3-wheeler as fast as it would go. He will be missed, but remembered with such joy.

With Love, Danelle Shumway