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Raymond Lewallen

Professional Learner

We lost a great would-be developer of the Lewallen family.

We lost a great would-be developer (or whatever he wanted to be) at 3:29 PM CST on Easter Sunday, April 16th 2006. My son fought valiantly for the 5 weeks he was here with us and left us peacefully and in the arms of his mother and I. Thank you to you all who thought of us and supported his recovery. My son, myself, and my family are all now at peace.

If you are interested in reading about his journey, you can find that here.

To my son, I will you see you again.

Published Apr 16 2006, 10:47 PM by Raymond Lewallen

Comments

Sahil Malik said:

Ray,

I'm sorry to hear this. There is nothing I can say or do to comfort you. I know how hard all of you fought, and I can understand how difficult it must be. Please accept my deepest condolences, there is still a lot of good to look forward to in life.

Sahil

# April 16, 2006 11:56 PM

Jana said:

I love you very much and thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father. You've been my rock and we have some pretty beautiful children, if I do say so myself. Drew was a very lucky little boy--and Elizabeth is the luckiest little girl in the world. Not to mention my luck. :-)

Love you,
Jana

# April 17, 2006 12:23 AM

John Papa said:

I am so sorry for the loss of your son. God bless your family.

John

# April 17, 2006 12:51 AM

Liang said:

Deeply sorry to hear that. Sure he will be with you again sometime somewhere...

# April 17, 2006 1:17 AM

Jason Mauss said:

I'm very sorry for you and your wife and this loss you have to endure. Perhaps he was such a special spirit that Heaven just couldn't stand to be without him for very long. He sounds like he was quite a strong little guy to be able to fight for as long as he did. My wife and I (who got sad and cried a little when she read the news) will keep you guys in our prayers.

Jason

# April 17, 2006 1:21 AM

Ronnie Kohring said:

I am truly sorry for your loss. I do not know you or your family, but that does not prevent tears from streaking my cheeks. I'm sure his short footprint in this world be with you always.

# April 17, 2006 3:18 AM

Frans Bouma said:

My condolences. :(

# April 17, 2006 3:23 AM

rsakalley said:

My deepest condolences.

Ranjan

# April 17, 2006 4:30 AM

Eric Wise said:

I share your grief man.

# April 17, 2006 8:32 AM

JBarbatos said:

My condolences, god bless you and your family.

# April 17, 2006 8:58 AM

Andrew Stopford said:

My deepest condolences, your in my thoughts.

Andy

# April 17, 2006 9:01 AM

Sam Gentile said:

I don't know what to say. I am so sorry for the loss of your son. My deepest condolences to you and your family and may God bless you all.

# April 17, 2006 9:10 AM

Oskar Austegard said:

As a new father it breaks my heart to read about your loss. You and your family have my deepest sympathies.

Oskar

# April 17, 2006 9:29 AM

breichelt said:

i'm sorry for your loss raymond

# April 17, 2006 9:36 AM

Jeff Lewis said:

I'm not sure what your personal beliefs are, but I just wanted to share mine with you. As you said, you will see your son again. He was a choice soul that only needed to spend a little time here on this earth to complete his mission. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it would be to lose a child, but please know that you will be re-united with him someday.

# April 17, 2006 10:19 AM

marko said:

Your family will be in our prayers.

# April 17, 2006 10:29 AM

Jeremy D. Miller said:

I'm so sorry Raymond. You and your family will be in our prayers as well.

# April 17, 2006 10:35 AM

Scott said:

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

# April 17, 2006 10:36 AM

Alex Lowe said:

My son Brady is two years old. When he was born and we were told he had Hemophilia we mourned his death (anticipatory grief) even though he had not passed. As a result, I can empathize with you and I know this is the toughest thing you and your family have ever been through.

I hope that you can rejoice in the knowledge that Drew is with God now. We will pray for you and your family.

# April 17, 2006 10:56 AM

Eber Irigoyen said:

there's not much one can say in this situation, but my deepest condolescenses for you and your family, now your son is resting peacefully, and yes, you will be reunited with him again

# April 17, 2006 11:09 AM

QTip said:

This is very sad news to hear today Easter monday.
But i do believe in the afterlife. He will grow up by your side and come in your bed to be next to you at night.
He will be around the room and be watching you as he ages and grows in the afterlife. He will laugh when you laugh and cry when you cry. But you will feel him from time to time, he will let you know he's around.
Talk to him sometimes, leave a chair for him at the table. let him know there is always a place for him.
Then one day you will grow old and be sitting in a chair and close your eye's and you'll open them and be right next to him just sitting and smiling talking to each other and saying how nice it is to be here together just talking. Your wife will come over and sit next to both of you and you will all be together oneday.

It will be a happy day ......

# April 17, 2006 11:44 AM

Cos said:

I'm so sorry for your loss, if there is anything I can do to help, you know how to reach me.

# April 17, 2006 11:52 AM

Matt Berther said:

Raymond,

I'm so sorry for your loss. I cant even begin to understand how you must be feeling.

I dont really know what else to say, other than if you need *anything* please dont hesitate to get in touch with me.

My family and I are thinking of you and you are in our prayers.

# April 17, 2006 12:46 PM

Jim Losi said:

I am in tears.. nothing affects me more than a child leaving us. I am truly sorry for your loss.. God bless you all.

# April 17, 2006 12:46 PM

Kristin Ferrier said:

I am so sorry for your loss. You and your family are in my prayers.

# April 17, 2006 12:48 PM

Keith Rull said:

My prayers are with you and your family. God Bless you Raymond and your family.

# April 17, 2006 1:21 PM

Erik Porter said:

So sorry to hear this. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

# April 17, 2006 4:01 PM

Tobin Titus said:

God bless you and your family, Ray. My family is very sorry for your loss and will continue to pray for your family.

# April 17, 2006 4:06 PM

Daniel Clausen said:

Ray,
May the Lord's face shine upon you and your faimly during this difficult time. My thoughts and prayers are with you. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask.

# April 17, 2006 5:50 PM

Stephen Nelson said:

You have my deepest sympathies.

# April 17, 2006 9:12 PM

pvanooijen said:

My deepest condeleances to your family.
My deepest respect for your courage to share on Codebetter and have Drew as a (possible) would-be developper on board.

# April 18, 2006 2:53 AM

George Handlin said:

Ray,

This is my first comment, just recently started reading. I'm very sorry for you loss as well. I've got three kids myself - I can't imagine losing any of them. My oldest is a teenager and was quite distant (physically and emotionally) for a period of time. That was hard enough. God bless you and your family.

# April 18, 2006 3:02 PM

Kauri and family said:

ray/aiax

My wife and myself wish you all the best for your family. I cant explain in words what we are feeling for you....just that your son had a wonderful Dad and Mum who loved him lots....and what more could he have asked for.

kauri and family

# April 18, 2006 4:15 PM

Ryan said:

I'm really sorry to hear about your son. He's in a better place now. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

# April 18, 2006 11:25 PM

Jay Kimble said:

Ray,

I empathize with you so much... As you know I'm acquainted with grief right now. I can't imagine your pain (I'm actually fighting back tears). It seems so hollow to say I'm sorry or any of the other canned responses that we often say. I will pray for you, guys, and I mean that...

Jay

PS. sorry it took me so long to respond... my blog reading is way behind...

# April 19, 2006 11:57 AM

johnwood said:

Raymond,
I've been thinking about your late son and what you and your family were going through ever since your first posting on his birth. I'm so very sorry to hear this news. He really is in a better place now, at peace. Our prayers are with you man.
John

# April 19, 2006 3:00 PM

Brian Kelley said:

I have MVP Raymond Lewallen in my list of blogs to follow. I read with great sadness the following blog...

# April 27, 2006 1:53 AM

Jason Bock said:

Sorry to hear about the loss of your son.

# May 1, 2006 9:26 AM

Raymond Lewallen [MVP] said:

I would like to wish my wonderful wife of 10 years a Happy Anniversary today. This year has been the

# December 21, 2006 6:51 AM

how to explain mvps to my family said:

Pingback from how to explain mvps to my family

# July 16, 2008 8:54 PM

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About Raymond Lewallen

Working primarily in the public sector during his career, Raymond has designed and built several high profile enterprise level applications for all levels of the government. Raymond now works as a solutions architect for EMC. Raymond is an agile coach, Microsoft MVP C# and also president of the Oklahoma City Developers Group and Oklahoma Agile Developers Group. Raymond spends a lot of his time learning and teaching such things as Test Driven Development, Domain Driven Design, Design Patterns and Extreme Programming practices and principles, to name a few. Raymond is also an advocate of Alt.Net. Raymond is primarily a framework guy, so don't ask him anything about UI :)