January 29, 2005: Eulogy
Read by The Diesel at Cousin Carl's Funeral
By
The Diesel
Sacramento, CA
When Carl came out to California in the 80's, he moved in with my parents for a few years. While we had developed a relationship when we both lived back East, it wasn’t until he came out here that I grew to love him like a brother. He initially impressed me by saying that he was a dart-ball champion in Pennsylvania and was featured in the local paper. Dart-ball is playing baseball using a dartboard. The town he came from would appear to be too small to have a dart-ball team much less a dart-ball league, but in Pennsylvania summers are short and aside from pelting the ice cream truck with apples it can get boring. I also remember him eating ketchup like it was soylent green. Every meal had to be smothered in ketchup regardless of what it was. I've never met a person who loved a condiment so much and he never could fully explain his passion for ketchup.
Carl was an all-around great person. Everytime someone met Carl for the first time they liked him because he was so personable and quick witted. Carl was not great because he invented the wheel, although he told me that he was very close to a breakthrough. Carl was great because he was kind-hearted, funny, intelligent, strong, genuine, and loyal to the bone. Carl was great because he loved his family and his friends deeply and he would do anything for them at any time. He even loved his pack of odd shaped dogs. Carl loved his dogs and he somehow saw them as beautiful with above average intelligence. I heard he still had the tombstone from one of his dogs that had passed away years ago. Carl had made the tombstone out of cement and consequently the thing weighed about 300 pounds. I'm not sure if he made a mistake or if he really thought the dog was worth that much cement. Once, after I helped him move it about 20 feet, I told him my tombstone moving days were over. I'm sure there are several people here today that enjoyed helping Carl carry that tombstone at least once. I only saw a gigantic tombstone, Carl saw the love and loyalty that he had for the dog.
Carl asked that we wear Hawaiian shirts today. I assume he was thinking that it's difficult to not have a good time when you're in a nice Hawaiian. However, like with any gathering it was always better when Carl arrived. In the video that Carl made, he was doing his best to help us cope. Carl, the ultimate selfless person, was looking out for us by helping us cope in a world without him. Carl was a loyal fan to the Sacramento Kings and the Miami Dolphins. I remember seeing him cry when the Dolphins lost the 1985 Superbowl. I may have made fun of him a little bit. A few weeks later, when my parents were away for the weekend, Carl and I watched Pink Floyd's "The Wall". We had overindulged in some adult beverages and before long I was asleep dreaming of the strange images I had seen. When I woke up the next day, Carl had written inappropriate messages all over my face in permanent black ink. It was just his way of coping with the Dolphin loss.
Carl was a hard working man but he always made time for his family. When he decided to relax, he often played softball, basketball, wiffle ball, and golf. Carl was a very good athlete due more to his inexhaustible determination than his physical build. I always enjoyed being on his team, as I knew we had a much better chance to win. In basketball, getting picked by him on a "pick n' roll" was like running into a brick wall. A short, solid wall that had a smile on its face, would intentionally mispronounce your last name, and would grab and twist your stomach if he felt you needed it. Carl wasn't always about "Brutish" entertainment, as Zardoz would say, he enjoyed the finer things. Such as; growing up we would tape a week's worth of the soap opera General Hospital and watch it religiously on Friday nights. We would gather big piles of refreshments and enjoy hours of Grant Putnam and Luke Spencer. While the stories on General Hospital were often riveting, for the most part it was just an excuse to enjoy each other's company. We would laugh for hours and keep statistics on which extra walked passed in the background the most times. Soap operas are surprisingly funny if you watch them correctly. More importantly, with someone who is easy to laugh with, like Carl.
So today, we pay tribute to Carl Cox. Despite his short life, Carl left us with many wonderful memories that will help us through these difficult days. If you never met Carl, I wish you had. He would have made you feel welcome and he would probably have made you laugh. I'm fortunate that I knew Carl and I will miss him dearly. I'm confident that he is in Heaven with pictures of his family in his wallet, shooting under par on every hole, and enjoying a cold glass of ketchup with his Nanny. God Bless Carl Cox, and comfort his family and God Bless the DVX as the DVX is Everywhere.
