Remembering Endicott

Endicott, Claudia, Duncan, Tom and Gemma 
St Paddy’s Pub Crawl 2015 

Endicott and Claudia 
Victory Dinner at St John’s College in Sydney, 2015

On Saturday, November 26 , we will be honoring and remembering our beloved son Endicott. We invite friends to join with us for a celebration of his spirit.

Here are the details.

1:00-2:00 p.m. Visitation Hour
2:00-3:00 p.m. Service
Fairfax Memorial Park
9902 Braddock Road
Fairfax, VA 22032
(703) 425-9702

Celebration of Life
Immediately following service
3:30-5:30
Trummer’s On Main
7134 Main Street
Clifton, VA 20124
(703) 266-1623

No need to respond or confirm. No one is expected but all are welcome. If you can be there with us, please do. And please feel free to share with others.

We are thankful to the many friends and family members who have made donations in honor of our son. Those wishing to do the same should consider these organizations:

Friends of Homeless Animals (Aldie, Virginia)
Ironwood Pig Sanctuary (Marana, Arizona)
Robinson Football Boosters (Fairfax, Virginia)
Echo Hill Camp (Worton, Maryland). Contributions made payable to the camp, with “Endicott Fund” in the memo line, will be used to send a camper who is unable to afford the tuition to camp every year. This is the camp all our kids attended, that Endicott loved. These contributions are not tax-deductible.

Thank you

Endicott, junior year at Robinson, October 2012

Endicott, October 1996, 10 months old playing in the leaves

A Reflection –

Given by Liz Dixon, Endicott’s mother

Requiem Mass for Endicott Ackerman

St John’s College Chapel

18 August 2016

The Ackerman Family wants to express our heartfelt thanks to all the students of St. John’s, the leadership of St. John’s, the staff of W.B. Bull Funeral Home, the U.S. Consulate and of course, Endicott’s beloved friends. The outpouring of love and support has given us the strength to continue this now altered journey of life for all of us. We are taking ½ days at a time and it has and will continue to be our heart breaking process – a life on earth without Endicott.

One of the most difficult aspects of grief, is the loss of potential. And with Endicott there was so much potential. In everything. When he was little one of my nick-names for him was Spark-A- Lark. He’d walk in a room and he’d look up at you with those big brown eyes and you just knew something was going to happen, most likely fun, a game of wit, mischief or a combination of the three.

He’s had that same confident, grab the world by the horns attitude since he was two. Nothing was ever going to stop him once he put his mind to it.

In his senior year of high school, Endi announced that he was going to take a gap year before going to college, to travel and figure out where it was he wanted to go and what he wanted to study. We said “Okay” but you must do something extraordinary and not let the year slip by you.

He came home two weeks later and informed us that he secured a working visa and a job in the Outback working on a cattle ranch. Sam and I looked at each other and said “What?”

Endi gave us that grin and smiled, “I always wanted to be a cowboy.”

So on the way to the airport for his first departure we reminded him that he was going to have to apply to schools for college while away. We asked for a short list and his reply was “University of Sydney, they have a great medical program.” I knew right then that it would be a long time until he returned to the states to stay.

I visited Endi here at St. John’s and explored Sydney this past March. I am so blessed to have walked through all the neighborhoods with him. We visited some of his favorite restaurants, enjoyed the Barber of Seville at the Opera House, we walked the Botanical Gardens, shopped and met some of his wonderful friends. We took the ferry to Manly Island and of course walked the coastal walk, and I experienced Bondi Beach with him hand in hand.

As we were walking he mentioned to me that wherever he ended up in this world he had to be near the ocean. He needed to swim every day of his life in it. I asked about medical schools and he quickly replied Sydney, South Africa and Scotland.

He shared with me that his goal was to live all over the world in three year time-spans. To experience life and its cultures.

The world is a big place.

What I ask each of you is to keep Endi’s spirit alive, have fun, read good books, do amazing works, drink good drinks mixed properly, love your family, adopt a dog, keep the faith.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

“It is not length of life, but depth of life.”

Endi was my gift from heaven and that he will always be.

Thank you.

Duncan, Hannah, Liz, Bronte and Allie at Bondi Beach, August 18, 2016. Remembering Endi.

Liz’s final day at Bondi Beach saying my farewell to the water

Liz and Allie in Endi’s favorite El Topo

Duncan and Claudia celebrating Endi in style with his favorites, oysters and champagne w Liz