THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512090115
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 193 lines
LIKE MOST CHILDREN, Tracy Williams Jr. loved Christmas lights.
``He was the first one to get after us each year,'' said his father, Tracy Sr. ``He always wanted to know when we were going to decorate, always ready to help us with doing it.''
This year the family's turn-of-the-century farmhouse on Old Princess Anne Road reflects young Tracy's love of the holidays in a grand way.
Lighted angels line the long drive. Santa and his sleigh decorate the lawn. Hundreds of twinkling bulbs in the shrubbery provide a background as delicate as a dusting of powdery snow.
And above it all, at the peak of the roof, a cross glows in celebration of the true meaning of the holiday.
It is a scene that little Tracy, as the family called him, would love. Sadly, he will not be here to share the family's joy and pride.
Last August, just 3 1/2 weeks after his sixth birthday, he died - the victim of a tragic accident.
A few minutes after going up to his room to get ready for dinner, he attempted to blow up a balloon. Somehow he inhaled it.
It is one of those terrible situations that defy rescue. Tracy had been alone, so no one was there to explain what happened. Rescue personnel could not detect the tiny latex fragments blocking his airway.
The little boy who loved Christmas never had a chance. Only after an autopsy did everyone learn what had happened.
Little Tracy's death left his father, mother Linda, his two sisters Crystal and Courtney, and a host of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins stunned.
Certainly no one would have faulted the family if they had chosen to have a quiet holiday this year.
Instead they chose to decorate their comfortable three-story home in a way that Tracy would have loved. In the process, they also hope to provide joy for other families and a reminder to all to cherish and protect what they hold most dear.
``We want people to know the story behind the decorations,'' Linda Williams said. ``We want to draw people's attention to family and how important it is.''
``As the holidays approach, we want to remind them to be careful of everything that can change your life,'' her husband added. ``We think Tracy would like the decorations. We think he approves.''
FOR LEO AND HELEN BAUTISTA of Lord Dunmore Drive, the pain of losing a child has lessened with time, but the love and memories remain alive.
They, too, decorate their home in memory of a son.
Lear Bautista was 16 that Saturday evening in June 1989 when he fell from a friend's boat into the Elizabeth River.
It, too, was a tragic accident. No drugs, alcohol or even horse play were involved. Just a bunch of kids out on the water. One minute Lear was in the boat, the next he was in the water.
Throughout the long weekend - to compound the tragedy it was Father's Day - the Bautistas, their younger son Len, and their friends and family in the Kempsville, Navy and Filipino-American communities waited and prayed.
It was three days before their fears were confirmed. And many months before the scars began to heal.
While the loss always will be part of their lives, so will the many warm memories of the son who died too young.
It's especially true at Christmas, when they bring joy to others by surrounding their house and garden with thousands of lights.
A snowman twinkles on the side of the garage, a package-filled sleigh with a red-nosed reindeer shines brightly on the front lawn, a life-size Nativity scene fills a breezeway.
Precisely placed bulbs cover every shrub, frame every inch of the roof line and define the chimney. Hovering above all is a white dove of peace, an olive branch in its beak. It is the newest addition to the Bautistas' Christmas wonderland, and Leo Bautista is justifiably proud of it.
``It only had 220 lights when I got it but I added 200 more,'' he said on the evening when he lighted the dove for the first time.
That makes a total of somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 lights, Bautista figures, and he cherishes each.
Especially the blue ones.
``They are special,'' Leo Bautista said softly. ``They are to remind us that without Lear our Christmases will always be a little bit blue.''
He stopped for a moment, took another look at the white dove near the chimney, then smiled gently. ``See, see,'' he said, ``how clearly the blue eyes of the dove show. That is good,'' he added, ``That is good.''
WHILE NOT EVERYBODY CAN decorate an entire house in memory of a loved one, they can place a special light or ornament on designated trees at the city's two hospitals.
Each year Sentara Bayside and Virginia Beach General hospitals' auxiliaries offer those who contribute as little as $5 the opportunity to help decorate a tree in honor or memory of friends and loved ones.
Portsmouth General Hospital was the first in the area to undertake such a project. That was 14 years ago. Now more than 50 Virginia hospitals have similar projects operating in slightly different ways.
Viewing Virginia Beach General's Love Light Tree with its hundreds of lights leading up to a twinkling star has become a tradition for those who travel First Colonial Road. It began in 1984.
Money collected through the holiday programs is earmarked for special purchases to benefit patients. In the past, it has bought special cribs for the neo-natal intensive care nursery at Virginia Beach General. At Sentara Bayside, part of this year's proceeds will buy a special lift chair for geriatric patients and a reclining chair for the cardiac unit.
``A lot of our staff make donations in honor of their bosses or employees,'' said Kay Meyer, Sentara Bayside's director of volunteer services, ``and our volunteers often do the same.''
One who contributed this year was longtime volunteer Ruth Pardue, whose donation was made in memory of fellow volunteer Anna Lee Peterson.
Peterson passed away recently after a long, valiant fight with cancer. Throughout much of her illness, she continued her volunteer work at the hospital where she was known for her cheerfulness and hard work.
Volunteer director Meyer remembers her especially from a pool party the auxiliary held. ``No one except for me was going in the pool,'' Meyer said, ``then I heard someone yell `Cannonball' and Anna Lee came flying through the air. She was in her 70s at the time and already knew she was terminally ill, yet she just kept on going.
``She was such a special person, she just went out of her way to be kind,'' Pardue said. In addition to working together at the hospital, both women were longtime members of the Sunrise Circle of The King's Daughters.
``She fought her illness for years. She really lived our circle's motto of `Look out, not in, and lend a hand,' '' Pardue added.
Peterson's name, along with those of everyone else for whom a light is donated, appears in a Book of Honor located in the hospital lobby where the tree stands. Known as the fourth annual Tree of Lights, it is decorated with hundreds of snowflakes, each bearing the name of the person for whom it was given.
Last Wednesday afternoon more than 50 volunteers and staff members gathered in the hospital's dining room for a short ceremony, which included a medley of Christmas music by the Kempsville High School Madrigals.
After the program, they followed the young singers to the hospital lobby where each named snowflake was added to the tree.
One of those snowflakes bears the name of Mark Rheins, a former Sentara vice president who was struck by lightning while participating in a corporate golf tournament two years ago. He is still undergoing physical therapy.
Mary Blunt, also a Sentara vice president, had made the donation.
``I actually gave one in honor of Mark before he had the accident,'' Blunt said. ``We were co-workers then and that was my gift to him. He was a fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor. We still follow his progress. I figure donating a snowflake in his honor gives us all a chance to think about him at the same time.''
Blunt's co-worker, Vicki Humphries, director of human resources for Sentara Southside Hospitals, was also in Wednesday's procession. Each year she gives a snowflake in memory of the small life that meant so much to her.
Like the Williamses and the Bautistas, she, too, lost a son.
He was born 15 years ago with multiple handicaps. Although he lived to the age of 9, his mental age never went much beyond the 2-month-old stage.
``Even so, he loved singing and he loved music. I think he would have loved this tree lighting ceremony very much,'' she said, her eyes, like those of many watching the festivities, misted at the thought. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Virginia Beach General's Love Light Tree can be seen from First
Colonial Road. Since 1984, people have purchased light bulbs in
memory or honor of a loved one. The money is earmarked for special
purchases to benefit patients.
RIGHT: Last August, just 3 1/2 weeks after his sixth birthday when
this picture was taken, Tracy Williams Jr. died after inadvertently
inhaling a balloon he was attempting to blow up. ``We want people to
know the story behind the decorations,'' Linda Williams said. ``We
want to draw people's attention to family and how important it
is.''
ON THE COVER: Courtney Williams, 6; Linda Williams; Tracy Williams
Sr., and Crystal Williams, 9; decorated their turn-of-the-century
farmhouse on Old Princess Anne Road in memory of their late son and
brother, Tracy, left. ``He was the first one to get after us each
year,'' said Tracy Sr.
Leo Bautista and his family decorate their home on Lord Dunmore
Drive in memory of a son, Lear, who was 16 in June 1989 when he fell
from a friend's boat into the Elizabeth River and drowned. Hovering
above the roof ia a "blue-eyed' dove. "(The eyes) are special," Leo
Bautista said softly. "They are to remind us that without Lear our
Christmases will always be a little bit blue."
by CNB