In Memoriam – Robert “Bobby” Bonilla – 1958 – 2012

In Memoriam

Robert “Bobby” Bonilla
1958 – 2012

On Thursday morning, August 9, 2012, my dear friend and brother Robert “Bobby” Bonilla died unexpectedly while he was at work. He was 54 years old. My wife Serena and I are devastated at the passing of this man, our spiritual brother and close friend who was a valued member of our family and loved deeply by all who knew him.

He was truly a spiritual person, kind and gentle, never judgmental of others, yet strongly moral in a very understated way, a quiet way that nonetheless shined through brightly by example. There are not many people I have ever known that I can say the following about, but I can say it about Bobby: I am a better person because I knew him. He made me a better person, purely through love and by example, the picture of a true Christian man.

This song, which I’ve renamed “No Goodbyes (Bobby’s Song)” was Bobby’s favorite song of mine. I did not originally write “No Goodbyes” for Bobby. But he loved the song because he said it reminded him of how he felt about his father, whom he lost when he was young. Almost every time I would see him, which was very often, he would ask about the song and tell me how much he loved it, when was it (the record) going to be finished, etc.

I did not know, my dear friend, that the song would become about you. About how you now live in my heart. About how painful it is to lose you. About how much I miss your presence in my life. And I can see you looking at me now, with that smile in your eyes, telling me….. “hey buddy, don’t cry… between you and me, you know… there are no goodbyes”.

Listen to the song here: http://soundcloud.com/828-records/no-goodbyes-bobbys-song

And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” – Rev. 21:4 (NWT)