Roommate Matt K. remembers the great people Greg surrounded himself with, the beautiful music from his room, Greg's amazing faculty for remembering stats, and Greg's orange and blue blood.
Wil remembers Greg as the happiest guy he ever knew. With Greg there was never any problem
U of I friends remember him always having a paper due the next day he hadn't started yet and they remember his many great trombone solos.
Deb B. writes: I can see Greg sitting in almost every room of our house; listening to music, eating meals, watching movies, but always laughing. Always smiling, always being the best of the best.
Jersey remembers scrabble games, debating over word roots and Greg and Jenny being a perfect little team.
Leah remembers being a senior in a car full of "bando" roommates, seeing freshman Greg walking to band practice -LATE! She doesn't think he ever would have made it on time if it wasn't for them slowing down the car at a green light intersection so Greg could jump in. At least twice a week, he'd be laying across two people and three horns in the back seat of their car.
Jenny remembers Greg rocking out with Chad, and John Linnemeyer to "My Name is Jonas" by Weezer. When Greg rocked out he would bend his elbows, kick out his legs and move his body in all sorts of directions at once. It didn't matter if music was on or not, Greg could rock out like no other. Remember Greg's safety dance after someone scored a safety in football…especially while playing Game Cube with his roommates... or him always flipping his cell phone around in his hand so that it did a 180 degree turn before putting it back into his pocket. ..acting like a monkey by puffing out his cheeks, slapping his hands above his head, scratching his head and picking bugs off of people around him... Greg twiddled his toes and drummed on the knuckles of his hand. He could often be seen trying to pick objects up with his toes. and When Greg did something silly or got embarrassed, he would stick his head into his shirt so we could no longer see his face . Greg didn't just walk like most people do. He would skip, or jump or run ahead and find benches and cement blocks to leap onto. The two of us (and his brothers too if they were around) liked to race to be the first one to touch the car or else to be the first one to reach my apartment front door. Why we did this, I have no idea…
Greg R. remembers what a great person Greg was and the Ultimate Frisbee games they all had, and hanging out at 7 11 afterwards. Greg could always make him laugh and was so much fun to be around.
Lynn S. remembers going to Toys 'R Us to buy a playground ball in Dayton, Ohio for the Men's 1st round B-Ball Tourney. They played basketball in the rain until the hotel staff sent them inside
Teresa F. says when she thinks of Greg, she also thinks of his brothers. They shared a very special bond. She remembers laughing with each of them at their cousin Stevan's birthday parties over the years.Teresa
Can you imagine Greg, sitting across from you in his shorts and bare feet, rubbing his toes as he talked enthusiastically about the game he was watching, the people he saw the night before, the movie he was going to see... he had such energy and passion for life.
Greg made up words on a regular basis like its "opening day for the shmubbies", "gabillion", "roominators", "fantabulous", "fantasticness", “Craptastic”,
Greg sayings, "Pretty Great", "Squeezy is easy." “I’m all over it”, “No problem”, “Meh”, “fan--tastic”, “He-llo”, “what cha doin”, “so… I was thinkin”…. “Work, schmerk”, “Whoooo-Hooo”… “I’m down for Frisbee”, “Snag me a Dr. Pepper”, " Hay is for horses", “So, mom, are we doing anything the weekend of …. Cuz Jenny and I are planning on going to …..”, “Hey Buster, what’s the dealio?”, "Sleep is for the weak, I can sleep when I’m dead."
Greg liked to whistle. He could often be heard whistling the last song he heard or just something out of the blue. On the morning of April 8th ,2004, after watching American Idol sing Elton John songs the night before, he kept whistling bits of
“Don’t let the sun go down on me…..”
Greg didn’t just walk into the room or exit a vehicle. He usually burst out of the car or bounced into the room. He had boundless energy.
Other friends remember all those great ultimate Frisbee games in the summer and cooking at Ryan B.'s house senior year of high school.
Greg did not like to sleep. He would stay up late and then when awoken in the morning would say “I’m up, I’m up.” If he were waking his brothers he would sing “Rise and Shine”.
Remember how Greg would always sleep with the blankets pulled up over his face?
No matter how many times it was uncovered, he would always recover it!
Parents of his friends remember Greg coming to their door with shorts and sandals on in the winter time, leaning down to pet their dog and being a great friend and confidante to their son/daughter.
Greg was a competitor. What ever he did he liked to go all out and if possible WIN! He would exert full energy at a Frisbee game or try to beat Chris to the van or outsmart others at board games like monopoly and RISK. He liked to play games and was all about the rules. He did not buy many things, but he owned several board games, like Scrabble, Risk, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, SET… and had several decks of cards from Las Vegas casinos.
Greg liked to play poker or any card game. He would deal cards, very quickly, one handed, sliding cards off with his thumb. He was very interested in poker and Texas Hold ‘em and was one of the first to watch the world tournament of poker. He played poker with some U of I friends at a tournament of 70 players. He won 1st place and Jenny was 8th. He won $900 and was most pleased with himself.
Greg liked to eat, especially meat. His favorite breakfast at Aunt Sonya’s in Champaign was a Waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, side of hash browns, side of sausage links and a large orange juice (the waitress at Aunt Sonya's didn't even ask him what he wanted anymore…) He went out for breakfast with the saxophones from marching band at 5:30 a.m. Saturday mornings before rehearsal. At restaurants Greg liked to order Bacon cheeseburgers (plain with only bacon and cheese) , Pizza with pepperoni and pineapple (and sometimes green peppers) from Happy China: Sesame chicken and BBQ Pork fried rice; from Taco Bell: Chicken Quesadilla meal with an additional soft taco; Italian Restaurant: Chicken Parmesan or any combination of sausage, peppers and potatoes; From BW's: Sweet BBQ wings and a side of buffalo chips with cheese,
Dr. Pepper. Other favorite restaurants were the Cheesecake Factory, Steak and Shake, Cheddar’s, Little Italian. At home, Mom's BBQ chicken with chicken rice and corn, Mom's Strawberry Marshmallow Salad and homemade applesauce.
Greg liked to read. He had a keen intellect. Last books read... Angels in America, Europe Through the Back Door 2004, Super System A Guide to Power Poker.
Greg liked to listen to music. He had three binders full of CD’s. A classical binder, jazz binder and rock binder. In April 2004, he told his brother Paul he loved listening to 'Spirit of the Horn' by Slide Hampton.
Matt M., who Greg met at Northwestern only hours before his death writes: "Greg was a very cool guy. I remember him quite clearly: his affection for his girlfriend, his HVAC drafting gig that would eventually turn into something more, his French fries that I mostly ate, his mother's concerned phone call, our mutual love of downtown Naperville on hot summer night ... yes Greg was cool and immediately likeable and not someone to be forgotten. He left a positive impression on me. I am so glad that I got to meet him."
At home Greg couldn’t walk past the piano without playing a few notes, tapping out the melody to either Mike’s piano music or Paul’s saxophone music.
Greg liked to talk on the phone.
Greg was appreciative. He would always thank you for the littlest thing like breakfast, laundry, waking him up...
Greg liked to solve problems. He worked the crossword puzzles, played Jezzball and Minesweeper on the computer. Dana Ketchmark said he knew he could give Draftsman Greg a project problem to solve at work and Greg would be all over it.
Greg did not like to go shopping for clothes. He preferred to wear his favorite old clothes: polo shirt either olive green or navy blue striped, T-shirts, khaki shorts with pocket full of phone, papers, pencil, change, keys, (always tumbling out into the sofa cushions as he slept), and, of course, sandals.
Mom called Greg “Mr. Sunshine”. He was always happy, exuberant, enthusiastic.
Greg loved a challenge. For example, he would try to figure out a formula to tally the NCAA Final Four basketball grid to score predictions. He knew many sports facts or trivia. He laughed as he remembered how he memorized all the square roots up to 25 squared in high school just for fun.
Greg was strong. He would lift his big TV by himself and move it up or downstairs. He had great physical strength. A few times when Jenny came over to the house, he would suddenly lift her off her feet, she still upright and, whisk her out of the kitchen and into the family room to watch the game.
Greg was very tender and loving.
Greg we miss you so very much. Yours was a life well lived.
"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace."
number 6:24