Steven Joseph"Joey" Schuster
In Memory of
Steven Joseph
“Joey”
Schuster February 6, 1976
- 2004
“Joey”
- A Treasured
Memory in Our Hearts.
Joey was born February 6, 1976 at Anne Arundel
General Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. The love he brought from
the very beginning to our entire family was awesome! I remember when
Joey came home from the hospital, how we all just passed him from
one to the other. His mother and father lived with us a short time,
then they moved out into their own place. This marriage did not work
and Joey lived with his grandmother and grandfather, and his mother
and 3 uncles. After he was 5
years old Joey grew up in a single parent home with his
mother. Joey was never deprived of anything his heart desired.
Joey loved going to the mountains. I remember when
Joey was really little, he went fishing which he loved and he caught
a catfish. We took a picture of him as he and we were so proud that
he had caught this big catfish. It was almost as big as he was. We
would take Joey for walks in the mountains and come back with him up
around our shoulders as he got too tired to walk any further. He
loved helping to make the camp fire and all of us sitting around it
at nights. This was something that grew into him as in his later
years he would have his camp fire down by the Shenandoah River with
all of his cousins and friends. Joey has 6 cousins, and they all
looked up to Joey. One thing I can say, Joey protected them, he was
never around them when he was doing any kind of drug.
He went to a nursery school when he was 2 years old
and later went to Calverton a private school in Prince Frederick,
Md. Due to finances we had to put him in the county schools in Anne
Arundel County. Joey really missed his friends from Calverton. He
slowly got into drugs at a very early age and getting into trouble
that the drug lifestyle brings. We took Joey when he was a teenager
and admitted him into a drug rehabilitation center in Cambridge. He
stayed over 45 days. He looked really good when he came out. He
stayed clean for some time, but slowly got back into the same
lifestyle of drugs. Joey had a lot of peer pressure. These so-called
friends started coming around again and then he was off to the races
and they were his friends so he thought. He was a follower.
Joey was a very kind, loving person that was hurt over
and over in his life. I do not blame Joey for the mistakes he made
in life. A part of me wants to blame everyone and anyone that had
any part in Joey’s death, but I am sure that God will take care of
all of them.
Joey has left a little boy that has just turned 1 year
old. He was 7 months at the time of Joey’s death. His son will never
remember him only in pictures. Joey will always be with his son now
as this is what meant the most in his life. I believe he is spending
a lot of time with him and loving and caring for him the way that
God wants him too. Being an addict the normal thing to do when you
are hurting is too drink or drug to ease the pain. We had taken Joey
many times to Dr. Gooberman’s office in New Jersey to have a pellet
planted in his arm to block the opiates.
Joey and I would go out to lunch or dinner and how I
enjoyed being with him. Now that he is gone and this ugly drug and
his so-called friends that helped him get where he is now took our
precious Joey from us on April 21, 2004. Every time I see some older
woman out with a young person, I remember our times together.
The night before Joey died, we talked a couple of
hours, he was so excited about his job, and that weekend that he was
going to have his baby and he had joked about his mother and I being
with his son. It was just going to be him with “The Boy”. That is
how he referred to his son. Ne was going to have a
cookout and have all of his friends over to see his son for the
first time. I was sitting at the table listening to him and he said
that someone had told him, he needed Jesus. I had bought him a
crucifix one Christmas and I did not know until that night that he
wore it all the time. Anyway, he said I looked down at my cross and
Jesus had fallen off of the cross. And he said to this person, yes,
you are right I do need Jesus.
Later that night after 11P.M. he called me to ask if I
had off on Friday as the mother of his son wanted to come down as
she was going to plant flowers for us. I told him I would pick her
up after work. He was so happy that it seemed like things were
coming around for him and he would finally have the little family
that he wanted. He said O.K., “I love You” and 1 said, “I love You”
It didn’t matter how many limes a day he would call or we would
see each other we would always say “I love You” and give
each other a hug. I am so grateful we had this kind of
relationship.
At 6:00 P.M. on April21, 2004, Joey’s mother found him
in the floor dead from what the autopsy report said was morphine
intoxifleation. This has been devastating to our whole family. We
miss him more and more everyday. With the holidays coming I know it
will not get any better as we are a close family and we always
celebrated all holidays and birthdays together. There will always be
that one empty chair. Joey was 28 years old.
Back to Memorials
|
