Hello classmates,

My best long time friend Jon Bailey passed away on Monday Jan 10, 2011. He was staying in an assited living hospital in Glendora when he contracted some form of disease that was extremely resistant to antibiotics and he never recovered. He just turned 61 years old in November last year.

We became friends in the 2nd grade and have continued to see each other until the end. I remember barely being able to speak English back then and he took me under his wing. As the years went by, we spent time at each other's house and screwed around all Summer long...like every day for years until after High School and even a few years after that. He loved to cruise around Whittier in his Corvette. We would make the same cruise route everyday going past girl's houses and stopping at the news stand. Then later in the evenings and weekends, we worked together in his old man's 76 gas station on Hadley.  We lost contact for a brief period,  but got reunited and then continued to visit each other.

I was lucky enough to stop by his room every Sunday on my way down to Upland for the last 6 months or so.  He was pretty much bedridden then, but I would make him get up and help him into his wheelchair so we could "cruise" around the hospital and outside where we would have a smoke together. I would bring him butterscotch candies (sugar free) and Blue Diamond almonds...his favorite snacks. It's amazing what little things like that can do to make a person happy when you don't have anything else.  I tried to spend at least an hour with him every visit, and he looked forward to Sundays so we could spend time together. When he got ill, he was moved to another hospital under intensive care, but I got to see him a couple weeks before he passed away.

Although he's not suffering anymore, I will miss him dearly.

Robbie Liefveld-