TeamDykeman Blog

I want to share with you my thoughts on two young men that I’ve known and loved their entire lives.
 
The first, my godson & first cousin, Philip lost both parents at an early age.  He struggled with that, but chose  to get a degree and enlist in the United States Marine Corps.  His career was extremely successful, frequent deployments allowed him to visit many countries.  As a commanding officer with the rank of Captain, Philip was stationed in a small community in Iraq where he was much respected.  In June a suicide bomber ended his life and that of two other marines and several locals.  Phil left behind his lovely wife, Ginger, Austin (9) and adorable twins, Ashlee and Emilee (6).
 
The second is my youngest brother, Andrew.  He and Phil, always close, were both alter boys at my wedding.  The loss of his good friend has inspired him to action.  He has been training for months to run a 26k marathon this weekend. (I don’t remember him running for anything except dessert!)  He and another brother, Peter have developed a web site:
 
www.teamdykeman.com
 
I would appreciate you visiting the web site.  Andrew and TeamDykeman plan to raise $15,000 to establish a scholarship in Phil’s name.  If everyone sent just a few dollars the goal would be met.  Phil’s children,  Austin and the twins are now in the same school district their father was and will graduate from the high school he did in Central Square.  The family was deeply moved by the people of Oneida County on the day of Phil’s funeral.  The 23 mile trip from funeral home to church and then cemetery was lined with wonderful people of all ages, some in uniform, waving or holding flags in honor of a young man many didn’t know anything about except that he had been raised in the area.  There were literally hundreds of people, many had waited hours for the procession to pass them.
 
With pride, love and respect for these two young men….
 
Have a safe Halloween weekend,

Mary Bateman-Ferry
 
p.s. for those of you not living in NYS, YES, there is some snow on the ground this a.m.!

I am Phil’s older brother Art and I wanted to say thank you in advance for your support in this endeavor.

I have a tendency to ramble… so you may want to get a beverage before proceeding.

First off I want to thank everyone who has put this together for my brother, if you have not or are not mentioned but should be blame cousin Andrew…
Just kidding.

Ya see Andrew has been working on this for a while and is very passionate about the project, it’s progress and it’s prospects.  He calls pretty regularly to let me know how and what things are going on.  A typical conversation with him on this topic sorta sounds like this:

 RunnningthemarathonforPhilgotPeterhelpingthewebsiteCindyCrouse..IN HALE..
 hasbeenagreathelpohandsheremembersyouwerethebeststudentwiththebestgrades ..
 IN HALE.. goinggranttheschoolarshipsent450emailsout.. IN HALE..
 MikeisrunningtheUSMCMarathonwithmenextyear.. IN HALE..

Well you get the idea.  He is very excited as we all are.

It has been almost 4 months since Phil past.  I can’t say that they have all been easy.  I will tell you though that I am still more proud than sad.  Not only of Phil but of the community that helped pay homage to him during the funeral. The images in my head are clear and detailed as if I am standing there right now.  What the people of this community did for my brother was humbling and they should be EXTREMELY proud of what they have done and continue to do every day.  For those that were not there you can find photos on the web I will tell you it was the most impressive display I have ever seen.

The events around my Brother’s funeral moved me to take a good look at what I have done for the place I grew up in.  I felt and still feel very guilty that I had/have not given back to the community that gave my family and I so much, at least not to the degree I feel I should have.

TeamDykeman, his Blog, the Scholarship drive, the dedications are a beginning and I am glad that my cousins have taken the ball and run with it.
I don’t believe we are done here though.  I don’t know how or what I will do to follow suite but I still owe.

In the coming weeks I plan on writing some stories about Phil, and encourage anyone who wants to share their stories as well for a few of reasons:
1.      So his kids will know their father like I(we) did
2.      For those that follow him through this scholarship
3.      For us to remember and never forget