As if Friday wasn't a drab enough day as it was, I learned by a question text that my friend, Gary Siler, had died earlier that day.
As news unfolded as to how, I, like many of you, have asked that other one word question, "Why?" over and over in my head. There is no answer, and I'm not sure there ever will be. Or maybe one that we really don't want to hear.
I really can't recall when I first started to deal with Gary, but it was that long ago that telephone was the mode of communication. There was no email, texting, etc.
Like always, Gary was very cooperative in what I was calling for. Harford Tech wrestling, his pride and joy.
I have to believe, some had better results, but none worked harder to get them than Gary did with the Cobras program.
He brought that program from the virtual unknown to one that was recognized across the state. It was Siler's wrestlers who brought Tech its first team county, region and ultimately state championships.
Gary was super proud of that and the kids who were part of it.
Gary was also a teacher. A bricklaying teacher who I could never thank enough. It was Gary, who with a few students, built the brick sign that stands outside the firehouse where I volunteer: The Susquehanna Hose Co.'s Chapel Road station.
It's a beautiful brick sign and has been and will always be a remembrance marker for me.
There are other signs, buildings around this county that Siler and students built, including right on the Tech school property.
Gary was also a father to two young, impressionable girls, Tori and Kaylee. I know he loved those two girls dearly and he was extremely proud of them.
Over the years, I remember seeing Siler, wife Amy and the girls at wrestling meets and tournaments. It was one or both girls who delivered the national anthem to begin the action.
I'd also run across them, all of them, the handful of times I stepped inside the Tech press box at the stadium.
Most recently, Gary told me in person that he was taking over the Tech girls softball team. He was beaming.
In doing so, he coached daughter, Tori, a freshman at Tech. I never coached at the high school level, but I know first-hand what coaching your own children is like. It's a joy.
The last correspondence I had with Gary came Thursday. It was an email from him about the Cobras first loss of the season. Tech committed seven errors and lost, 6-5.
Under Gary, the Cobras were 4-1 overall and 4-0 in UCBAC Susquehanna Division play.
Gary Siler had a big heart. Gary Siler also had a troubled heart and mind. Gary Siler will be missed.