From Louise:

On the Fourth of July 1964, Dana and I pledged " til death do us part" at St. Michael's Church in Exeter, New Hampshire. We cherished each other. We formed a family. This very special day set the bar for the next 56 years…

Dana lived big and didn't do anything small. When he loved, he loved with all he had, when he celebrated, he celebrated with all he had, and when he fought...he gave it his all. He knew who he was and how he wanted to live; he cherished me, our children and our Bella. Dana chose his path, the path less traveled and gave us an exceptionally rich life. We had a long life together, saw each other through wonderful and not so wonderful, our vows were honored. He was the love of my life and I his; I've told our daughter for years to find a man who will shovel a "princess path"through the snow to her car...the rest will fall into place.

With his family around him, my beloved husband Dana passed away after a gladiator's fight with illnesses. He was truly the wind beneath my wings; he helped me soar higher than I ever thought I could. He traveled the world and brought the world to his family and to everyone who listened

to his stories. Dana was strong and compassionate, a true Conservative who loved the U.S.A. Dana was a self-made entrepreneur, a self-taught woodsmith,welder and machinist.

He set standards for his family, both protective and gently demanding. He set a high benchmark for others to follow. Once he moved to New Hampshire, he was as much a native as if he were born here. No words can describe how deep is my loss. He was a five-foot, nine-inch giant. I have truly been blessed .

T riumphant R ising U nder M assive P ressure

2020

From Shaun:

It is tough to unpack 78 years of Dana Hickey's life into a paragraph or two. We traveled together to trade shows and for pleasure, but I've chosen to focus on my father's obsession with fixing and building things. He loved to work with his hands and brain. At times his medium was wood, but in the last decade or so of his life it was to build himself a machine shop, with a milling machine, lathe and multiple welders. As he was leaving this here on Earth for his journey to the next place we were all around him, holding his hands and letting him know it was ok to let go.

My sister had purchased a pretty cool device that was an inflatable bladder that would allow him to raise up the head of his bed into a sitting position. My last act for him was to put it under the mattress while he was showering to show him what it could do. The shower was to be his last act. We fast forward a bit. We are holding him, comforting him and witnessing the very peaceful transition. He is literally drifting away when he somehow notices the remote for the inflater. As you can imagine all our emotions are raw at this point. We are watching one of our best friends leave forever. Well he wasn't quite done yet, I asked my Mom if she was inflating the bladder and she looked at me and said no. Grampy is doing that. His last act was to look at this new mechanical thing as if to say..well that is pretty cool...look what it does.

I will always remember this, and I am crying a bit and smiling now. When something broke around here he didn't call someone, he broke out the tools and YouTubed if needed and he/we fixed it ourselves. I have some things around here to finish up on. We were not able to do it all over the last couple of years and frankly I didn't always want to do it without my work partner. I promised him I would get it done, so "Dad. I am on it. I will let you know how it goes." Rest in peace buddy. I miss you already and will cherish all our crazy times forever. Love you Dad.

From Erin, "Grilla":

I know I will never be able to adequately express all I feel about my Dad and in no way, shape or form, despite the many times we thought it was the "end," was I prepared for him heading to the welded hockey rink in the sky.

My Dad was the strongest, most generous, and best man I knew.  He was and always will be my hero, my main man.  His sincere devotion to his family never wavered; He was our greatest fan, protector, and provider.  Dad traveled the world and loved this Country without reservation and couldn't understand anyone who didn't.  I will miss your Dana-isms and how they made us all laugh, you were an original.

I was and am proud to be his daughter and never knew anyone who knew more about doing the right thing, and did it always, never needing or expecting acknowledgment.  My Dad believed what he believed, did what he did and made no apologies.  He would help anyone in need and did it graciously.  He was a fantastic dancer, gave me my rhythm and we shared a love of music, Oldies, Motown, Reggae, Blues, and some Country…really anything that was well done.

For those he befriended, no matter how many miles separated or how many years passed, you had a friend for life.  Dad loved my cooking and in the last years everything I made was "the best he ever had."  Good food made Dad really happy, he told me often that I missed my calling…it was my pleasure to show my love through food for my best customer.

I miss you already Dad.  You fought such a long fight to be here with us and to be such an amazing presence in Bella's life, thank you.  For me, as a mom, there was no greater gift than to see the extraordinary bond between a granddaughter and her 'Rampy.   He always reminded us all that Bella was the best athlete this family had ever seen...mind you, Shaun raced down mountains and I flipped on 4 inch beams!  Bella kept 'Rampy with us for way longer than was realistic, he was always ready for the next soccer match.

Rest in Peace Dad, I love you with all my heart.  I'm waving at you from the tallest tree…forever and always, your main woman, Grilla.

From Bella:

My Grandpy, my best friend. From the time when I was just 5 years old  getting told "Bear stories" from the man himself, to the time where I was getting told about how he traveled the world, Grandpy always had a new story to tell me when I walked into his room. Through all the years I lived here with him and my family I got to learn what a strong and wise man my grandfather was. He taught and showed me alot and guided me throughout my years here. He was my number one fan (sorry mum), he showed up to every game he could, if it meant he was on the bleachers or sitting in his car to watching it live on the tv he watched every game he possibly could even on the days where he felt like he couldn't, he did.

As he was getting worse he would continue to say "I'm doing great!" and never once showed any sort of weakness to my family and I because that's just the man he was. He was the "let me do it myself, I'm fine" type guy who just wanted to finish what he started. He fought and fought with every single thing in his body and I'll always remember that. There wasn't a single one of his projects unfinished. Every day he would wake up and he would have to do something, he couldn't let himself ever just take it easy or have a lazy day, he always had something planned and never let a day go to waste.

He fought for so long and he was ready. It was sad to let him go because we never thought that it would happen. We knew it was coming just didn't expect it to ever actually be the day where I had to say bye to my best friend. I love you so much Grandpy I hope you're playing some golf in heaven. RIP Grandpy. -"stink"