CELEBRATION OF LIFE CONTINUES

On July 12, 2026, on the weekend of the first anniversary of the Hebrew date of my brother-in-law Bryan’s passing, we had a Celebration of Life planned. It was to be at our house, with our niece, Sage, coming from Virginia to host. There was also an option to join on Zoom.

After an unexpected medical emergency, the widespread invitation had to be cancelled, and a private version took place at our house, hosted by my husband, Arnee. Members of Bryan’s immediate family joined on Zoom.

The following morning, Arnee and I were driving to an appointment, and he had me take note of the song that was playing on the radio. Using my iPhone, I quickly took a picture of the screen showing the song title "Easier Said Than Done" by The Essex.

Immediately, I sent the picture on WhatsApp to our family group, stating, “We could hardly believe what’s playing on the radio now! A record Uncle Bryan bought for daddy, which he talked about yesterday, and…he says he hadn’t heard it on the radio in 50 years!”

When I then texted that message to Sage, she replied, “My dad has been very playful with my electronics over here! I love that he served up that song for you all!!!” 

After that, our daughter Rina posted, “I don’t think I ever sent this, but after the talk of this song yesterday [“You Can Call Me Al”], it reminded me. This came on the radio one day several months ago and made me think of Uncle Bryan.”

Hearing “You Can Call Me Al” reminded her of her uncle because, as Arnee said at the Celebration of Life, Bryan used to go to Wawa early in the morning to buy coffee. One day, the clerk said, I see you all the time, we should know each other’s names. Bryan said, “You can call me Al.” He was being funny, but she didn’t get his humor.

Lucky for us, we got his humor and shared tons of it and more. We’ll continue to laugh at your jokes and find humor in memories to lighten the load of daily living, while singing along to the songs you loved. We love you Bryan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See last week’s blog post at sharonmarkcohen.com, Remembering Harvey Greenspan, z”l. For more on Bryan’s favorite music, see Listen to the Music, dated January 6, 2026, and for more of Bryan’s favorites, see bigbrycohen@gmail.com, dated August 5, 2025.