Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Translation: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Monday morning I awoke to the buzzing vibration of my cell phone. I had a text message from a friend. "Johnny Mac killed himself this morning." I was shocked, stunned! I sat straight up in bed I tried to call him back but he wasn't answering his cell.
I met Johnny Mac at a party in March of this year he was nice looking, a little shorter than I normally like; but my friend was his sponsor at NA and he had been clean and sober for about 5 months. Also word around the locker room was he was nicely hung. :wink:I tried talking to him; but he was unresponsive or perhaps just diffident. I shrugged it off figured he just wasn't interested. I went on to enjoy the party; but would sometimes look at him and wonder why he seemed so sad. Have you ever seen someone who seemed to have sadness roll off them in waves? That was the Johnny Mac I met.
Later I found out that his bitch of an ex-wife had been keeping him from seeing his sons. Johnny was a typical Jersey, Italian, family guy. He lived for his sons. He was a good father. His ex-wife had started brainwashing his sons against him and when he had gone to the hs to see his oldest son play basketball earlier that day, his son refused to come over to say hello at the half. He'd never done that before, his first born son had rejected him . . . publicly. That killed him inside. That's why he was so depressed at the party.
Two months later I heard through the grapevine that he had fallen off the wagon. My friend tried to help him but to no avail. :frown: He had lost his identity. He no longer knew who he was and he used drugs and alcohol to mask the pain of his loss of self.
Those of you who have never been depressed or divorced don't know how painful it can be for others. It's like a death. I have learned that divorce is especially hard on men. If who you are is a husband and a father and with a few signatures at the X all that is taken away what next, how do you cope? Johnny Mac was an ex-fighter pilot, and ex-husband, and it seemed to him . . . an ex-father. Too many ex's he just couldn't handle it.:frown1:
Ex-fighter pilot who battled alcoholism kills himself during workday
The Trentonian - Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN and L.A. PARKER, Staff Writers
TRENTON — A distraught former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot jumped to his death off the sixth floor of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission parking garage in downtown Trenton yesterday morning.
Coworkers and authorities identified the leaper as John Macaluso, 44, a father of three and Air Force retiree who worked as a senior training technician for the vehicle commission.
Wayne Guie of Mount Holly, who lived with Macaluso at his former home in Burlington County’s Southampton, said the ex-pilot had a drinking problem that he tried to beat, but failed.
“He tried AA, but he couldn’t take it,’’ said Guie. “He had a lot of problems with his wife and the regular stresses of life, I guess.’’
Guie said Macaluso flew F-14 fighter jets for the Air Force for more than eight years, serving in Iraq and elsewhere overseas. He said Macaluso’s drinking problem led to him falling out of a tree and breaking his neck, prompting the Air Force to drum him out of the service.
Macaluso and Guie lived together on Holly Park Drive in Southamton after the Air Force vet’s wife took their three teenage boys and left him. Guie described Macaluso as a “great dad’’ who loved his three “beautiful sons.”
Guie also said Macaluso’s “IQ was higher than genius. It was like a 140, but he was just too smart for his own good.’’
“I just seen the body drop,” said Kasheen Mayo, 23, an employee at the downtown U.S. Postal Service complex. “I don’t know where he fell from.”
Mayo said it happened at about 9:30 a.m. as he was turning his USPS minivan into Ernie Kovacs Place, behind the MVC offices. Mayo said Macaluso’s feet hit near his tire. “That’s when I called 911.”
“A guy named Raphael came running and told me that he had seen the guy land,” said a man named Thomas.
“He said that the guy landed on his feet like this,” Thomas described, putting his heels together and pointing his toes toward each shoulder.
“His knees buckled like this,” he said, pressing those same knees together and downward the way a ski jumper prepares for a snow ramp departure.
“And then he fell backward, with his head slamming against the street. There was no blood. No nothing. He said it looked like something out of a movie. That’s all I know,” Thomas said.
A MVC employee who requested anonymity said he spoke with Macaluso on the eighth floor of the MVC building only minutes before the apparent suicide.
“I asked him if he could help us because we had a training session,” the worker said. “He said you have to get one of the other tech guys.” Macaluso “seemed all right. Nothing out of the usual.” He described the leaper as “typically a quiet person.”
He and others gathered outside the MVC building said they’d heard that Macaluso was going through a divorce, although none knew any further details.
A coworker of Macaluso swiped her identification card to open a door leading to her upstairs workplace.
“He was a nice guy, but I know that lately there was talk of problems at home with his wife. Still, he always seemed to be in a good mood and willing to help anyone. He even helped me get a business started. This is a shame,” she said, tears in her eyes.
Another MVC worker said she knew Macaluso well enough to say hello each morning.
“He always seemed happy, but I guess this is a case where you never really know what’s going on with someone,” she said. “You get to see the outside but not the inside sometimes. I know that the holidays are a big depression time for a lot of people.
Macaluso’s union reps, Paul Curcio and Rodney Nichols of CWA local 1033, said they were shocked to be pulled out of a meeting at MVC and told he had jumped off the building. They said they had represented Macaluso at a recent disciplinary hearing.
Curio said he had been waiting for Macaluso to sign papers settling the matter with the state. Curcio wouldn’t give specific details, but he said the issue wasn’t significant enough for someone to commit suicide over.
Good-bye Johnny Mac. I hope you find the peace in death which you never did in life. :frown1:
Monday morning I awoke to the buzzing vibration of my cell phone. I had a text message from a friend. "Johnny Mac killed himself this morning." I was shocked, stunned! I sat straight up in bed I tried to call him back but he wasn't answering his cell.
I met Johnny Mac at a party in March of this year he was nice looking, a little shorter than I normally like; but my friend was his sponsor at NA and he had been clean and sober for about 5 months. Also word around the locker room was he was nicely hung. :wink:I tried talking to him; but he was unresponsive or perhaps just diffident. I shrugged it off figured he just wasn't interested. I went on to enjoy the party; but would sometimes look at him and wonder why he seemed so sad. Have you ever seen someone who seemed to have sadness roll off them in waves? That was the Johnny Mac I met.
Later I found out that his bitch of an ex-wife had been keeping him from seeing his sons. Johnny was a typical Jersey, Italian, family guy. He lived for his sons. He was a good father. His ex-wife had started brainwashing his sons against him and when he had gone to the hs to see his oldest son play basketball earlier that day, his son refused to come over to say hello at the half. He'd never done that before, his first born son had rejected him . . . publicly. That killed him inside. That's why he was so depressed at the party.
Two months later I heard through the grapevine that he had fallen off the wagon. My friend tried to help him but to no avail. :frown: He had lost his identity. He no longer knew who he was and he used drugs and alcohol to mask the pain of his loss of self.
Those of you who have never been depressed or divorced don't know how painful it can be for others. It's like a death. I have learned that divorce is especially hard on men. If who you are is a husband and a father and with a few signatures at the X all that is taken away what next, how do you cope? Johnny Mac was an ex-fighter pilot, and ex-husband, and it seemed to him . . . an ex-father. Too many ex's he just couldn't handle it.:frown1:
Ex-fighter pilot who battled alcoholism kills himself during workday
The Trentonian - Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN and L.A. PARKER, Staff Writers
TRENTON — A distraught former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot jumped to his death off the sixth floor of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission parking garage in downtown Trenton yesterday morning.
Coworkers and authorities identified the leaper as John Macaluso, 44, a father of three and Air Force retiree who worked as a senior training technician for the vehicle commission.
Wayne Guie of Mount Holly, who lived with Macaluso at his former home in Burlington County’s Southampton, said the ex-pilot had a drinking problem that he tried to beat, but failed.
“He tried AA, but he couldn’t take it,’’ said Guie. “He had a lot of problems with his wife and the regular stresses of life, I guess.’’
Guie said Macaluso flew F-14 fighter jets for the Air Force for more than eight years, serving in Iraq and elsewhere overseas. He said Macaluso’s drinking problem led to him falling out of a tree and breaking his neck, prompting the Air Force to drum him out of the service.
Macaluso and Guie lived together on Holly Park Drive in Southamton after the Air Force vet’s wife took their three teenage boys and left him. Guie described Macaluso as a “great dad’’ who loved his three “beautiful sons.”
Guie also said Macaluso’s “IQ was higher than genius. It was like a 140, but he was just too smart for his own good.’’
“I just seen the body drop,” said Kasheen Mayo, 23, an employee at the downtown U.S. Postal Service complex. “I don’t know where he fell from.”
Mayo said it happened at about 9:30 a.m. as he was turning his USPS minivan into Ernie Kovacs Place, behind the MVC offices. Mayo said Macaluso’s feet hit near his tire. “That’s when I called 911.”
“A guy named Raphael came running and told me that he had seen the guy land,” said a man named Thomas.
“He said that the guy landed on his feet like this,” Thomas described, putting his heels together and pointing his toes toward each shoulder.
“His knees buckled like this,” he said, pressing those same knees together and downward the way a ski jumper prepares for a snow ramp departure.
“And then he fell backward, with his head slamming against the street. There was no blood. No nothing. He said it looked like something out of a movie. That’s all I know,” Thomas said.
A MVC employee who requested anonymity said he spoke with Macaluso on the eighth floor of the MVC building only minutes before the apparent suicide.
“I asked him if he could help us because we had a training session,” the worker said. “He said you have to get one of the other tech guys.” Macaluso “seemed all right. Nothing out of the usual.” He described the leaper as “typically a quiet person.”
He and others gathered outside the MVC building said they’d heard that Macaluso was going through a divorce, although none knew any further details.
A coworker of Macaluso swiped her identification card to open a door leading to her upstairs workplace.
“He was a nice guy, but I know that lately there was talk of problems at home with his wife. Still, he always seemed to be in a good mood and willing to help anyone. He even helped me get a business started. This is a shame,” she said, tears in her eyes.
Another MVC worker said she knew Macaluso well enough to say hello each morning.
“He always seemed happy, but I guess this is a case where you never really know what’s going on with someone,” she said. “You get to see the outside but not the inside sometimes. I know that the holidays are a big depression time for a lot of people.
Macaluso’s union reps, Paul Curcio and Rodney Nichols of CWA local 1033, said they were shocked to be pulled out of a meeting at MVC and told he had jumped off the building. They said they had represented Macaluso at a recent disciplinary hearing.
Curio said he had been waiting for Macaluso to sign papers settling the matter with the state. Curcio wouldn’t give specific details, but he said the issue wasn’t significant enough for someone to commit suicide over.
Good-bye Johnny Mac. I hope you find the peace in death which you never did in life. :frown1:
