Gerald Avery Dale

DECEMBER 4TH, 2024, WE LOST MY LITTLE BROTHER. THIS LOST A FORCE-NOT A PERFECT MAN, BUT A MAN FULL OF

LOVE, ENERGY, AND LIFE AND SWIFT FEET - WHATEVER. HE WAS RAW AND SENSITIVE, A SOUL SO TUNED TO THE BEAUTY AND THE PAIN OF THIS WORLD THAT IT OVERWHELMED HIM TO THE POINT OF ANXIETY- THE PRICE HE PAID FOR THE GIFTS. PLEASE THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MUST BE LIKE... HE DIDN'T ASK FOR IT UNLESS HE HAD A SIT -DOWN WITH THE BIG MAN BEFORE HE LANDED HERE. HE GOT IT. HE FELT THINGS HONESTLY, PURELY AND DEEPER THAN MOST, LOVED HARDER THAN MANY (IT'S WHY HE POPPED UP TO SEE YOU CONSTANTLY). LOVE IS THE SAME FORCE THAT KEEPS PLANETS IN ORBIT AND THE

SAME FORCE THAT KEPT HIM CIRCLING HIS LOVED ONES. AVERY FOUGHT SILENTLY THROUGH STRUGGLES THAT WOULD HAVE BROKEN ANYONE ELSE. WHO'S PERFECT? FAULTS DON'T DEFINE HIM. HIS LOVE DID. HIS SENSITIVITY DID. 

 HOW MANY CAN SAY THEY HAVE THE HEART TO RUN FROM THIS RACIST SYSTEM THAT WE KNOW WANTS BLACK FOLKS DEAD? NONE. WE'RE TOO BUSY TRYING TO FIT INTO A SYSTEM THAT IS WAITING FOR YOU TO ACT TOO STRONG TOO BLACK TO SELF- SUSTAINING. YOU KNOW DAMN WELL HISTORY TEACHES US, BLACK FOLKS ARE TARGETS NO MATTER HOW MANY YEARS, VEILS, AND ORNAMENTS ARE DANGLED OVER OUR EYES.

I DIGRESS. HE WASN'T JUST "A GOOD PERSON." HE WAS A COMPLEX, FIERY, LOVING, DEEP HUMANLY MAN WHO GAVE YOU A GIFT THIS WORLD WILL MISS.

THE MALE HARRIET TUBMAN.

OVER A DECADE AGO, HE AND HIS WONDERFUL WIFE WENT THROUGH SOMETHING. A KIND OF PAIN THAT BREAKS A PERSON IN WAYS MOST OF US CAN'T BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND. IT LEAVES SCARS THAT NEVER HEAL. HE CARRIED THAT PAIN EVERY SINGLE DAY, AND EVEN THOUGH HE SPIRALED IN WAYS THAT WERE HARD FOR US TO WATCH, IT WAS HIS LOVE FOR HER-HIS INABILITY TO NEVER STOP MISSING HER- THAT DROVE SO MUCH OF THAT PAIN. IT WASN'T WEAKNESS. IT WAS THE DEPTH OF HIS LOVE. AND THAT LOVE, AS BROKEN AS IT SOMETIMES MADE HIM, WAS HIS POWER.

THE ONE-LINERS ABOUT HEAVEN GAINING AN ANGEL... ETC. ETC. NOT TALKING TO ANYONE PERSON. I KNOW PEOPLE MEAN WELL, BUT THOSE PLATITUDES DON'T DO JUSTICE TO WHO HE WAS OR THE LOSS WE'RE FEELING. HE WAS MORE THAN A FLEETING SENTIMENT. HE WAS A FATHER WHO GRIEVED A DAUGHTER, HE FINALLY FELT LIFE THROUGH. A BROTHER WHO LOVED FIERCELY. A SOUL WHO GAVE (AND TOOK TO GIVE) SO MUCH EVEN WHEN HE HAD SO LITTLE TIME TO GIVE. WE ARE NOT JUST MOURNING HIS DEATH. WE ARE MOURNING THE UNDENIABLE LIGHT HE BROUGHT INTO OUR LIVES, THE WAY HE COULD MAKE YOU FEEL SEEN AND LOVED, THE WAY HE CARRIED SO

MUCH IN A WORLD THAT OFTEN GAVE HIM NO MERCY. WE ARE MOURNING THE LAUGHTER, THE TEARS, THE ARGUMENTS, THE TRIUMPHS, AND THE STRUGGLES. BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL PART OF HIM, AND HE WAS OURS. FROM HERE, WE HONOR HIM. ALL OF HIM. THE GOOD, THE FLAWED,

THE FIERY, THE TENDER. WE HOLD UP THE MAN WHO LOVED SO HARD IT SOMETIMES HURT HIM. THE MAN WHO NEVER STOPPED CARRYING HIS DAUGHTER IN HIS HEART. THE MAN WHO BROUGHT LIFE AND ENERGY AND FORCE INTO EVERY ROOM HE ENTERED.

 * * PLEASE STOP TRYING TO USE YOUR LIPS AND SIT WITH HIM IN YOUR HEART AND MIND AND SEE THAT THIS WORLD IS EMPTIER WITHOUT HIM.

      REST EASY, LITTLE BROTHER.

      I LOOK UP TO YOUR TRUTH.

      I HONOR YOUR HEART, AND I ADMIRE YOUR MIND AND STRENGTH YOU WERE SO MUCH MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY, AND WE WILL CARRY YOU ON.

      -JAMIE

 AVERY'S LEGACY WILL CARRY ON THROUGH HIS WIFE NATALIE TRAVER-DALE OF 16 YEARS, THEIR DAUGHTERS AVERYANA DALE (DECEASED), GIAVONNA DALE, ELISIANA DALE OF AUBURN, NEW YORK AND HIS SON KENDRICK DALE OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

 AVERY WAS BORN TO CHARLENE MARINO (DECEASED) AND JERRY AVERY DALE OF AUBURN, NEW YORK. HE WAS CARED FOR AND RAISED ALONGSIDE HIS "BIG SISTER" LANIETRA (MIA) MARINO, HIS "BIG BROTHER" JAMES (JAMIE) MARINO, BOTH WHOM HE ADMIRED AND ADORED, AND HIS "LITTLE SISTER" CHRISTAL (CHRISSY) MARINO WHOM HE SHARED AN UNBREAKABLE BOND WITH. 

THE 4 OF THEM WERE RAISED IN THE SAME NURTURING HOME, RAISED IN CHURCH BY THEIR STRONG AND LOVING GRANDMOTHER, LILLIE MAE MARINO (DECEASED). AVERY HAD A SUPERIOR UNMATCHED ABILITY AND LOVE FOR PLAYING THE DRUMS. 

AVERY'S LOVING SIBLINGS ON HIS FATHER'S SIDE ARE, CHEYLON DALE, TRASHIKA LOVE, CHANTELL DALE, TANYA KENNEDY, RACHEL DALE, DEYQUAN DALE & BREANNA BYRD (DECEASED), ALL WHOM HE KEPT CLOSE TO HIS HEART. 

AVERY SHARED A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH HIS NIECE SOMMORE ELLISON, HIS GODMOTHER/AUNT RITA, HIS AUNT JANICE, HIS UNCLE FREDDY AND UNCLE LARRY, HIS MALE COUSIN AND HIS FEMALE COUSINS. 

HE WILL BE LOVED AND TRULY MISSED BY ALL OF HIS NIECES, NEPHEWS, AUNTS, UNCLES, COUSINS, AND CLOSE FRIENDS. 

AVERY'S SMILE, SENSE OF HUMOR, LIFE FORCE & LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN, WIFE AND FAMILY WILL FOREVER BE REMEMBERED.

AVERY WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!

CELEBRATION OF LIFE WILL BEGIN AT 10A ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28TH, 2024, AT THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, 103 FITCH AVE, WITH A BURIAL AT ST. JOSEPH'S CEMETERY OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

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