To the Editor:

It’s been a year… 365 days without a letter, a phone call or even an email. A year ago Hoagie vanished. Since then, the limited searches from the NPD and the more extensive ones by friends and family have yielded nothing. His disappearance is a puzzle that has left us with emotions of anger, sadness and abandonment. There’s no explanation, no justification, no conclusion. Only a hole in our hearts.

On Monday evening, to remember the place that Hoagie held in our lives, we gathered at Fairfield Hills to light up some flying lanterns. As the warmth of the candle filled the canvas, we also filled the hole in our hearts with a prayer. A prayer for Hoagie’s safekeeping, whether here on earth or in the heavens. A prayer for Lori, Chris, Max and Sam. A prayer for all his friends and family. And as the luminaries rose, so did our prayers. He’s gone but will never be forgotten.

Francois de Brantes

for the de Brantes, Meisels, Smiths, and Woodhouses

13 Sugar Street, Newtown                    July 28, 2014