In Loving Memory of Michael Jakovich 1960-2003

I always called him Michael... his father and brother affectionately called him "Big Mike"...he was also known as "Mick at night", "Mobile Mike", "Mikee", and just plain Mike. 

That's not all he didn't stop at first names... he extended that to last names such as "Maxwell"... this was made possible by virtue of the fact that Canadian law allows a man to assume his wife's last name...  so the name Michael Maxwell came into being. 

After the divorce from his wife Marylyn Maxwell... Michael went to San Francisco...went into the window cleaning business and called it Siesta window cleaning...he  liked it so much he assumed
the name Michael Siesta. 

He returned to Florida and discovered that his brother Robert changed his birth name from Jatkoff to Jakovich and decided to become a conformist by changing his name to Jakovich as well. 

Suffice it to say, whatever anyone called Michael...

To me he was a loving son...

To me the loss of Michael, has been an unbearable tragedy beyond beyond my belief. 

Mike and His Dad

My father taught me how to love
My father showed me how to feel
He gave me more than I could grasp
And ALWAYS, ALWAYS KEPT IT REAL!

He loved openly, freely and gave without greed
He NEVER, NEVER was selfish helping others was his creed
He showed me a road to happiness
But I chose a different path I guess.

I don't think my father liked me
But I can assure you this
There never was more love shown to a son
Then by my father to me through his kiss

I only wish I had kissed him back
And let go of a petty beef
And let his soul envelop my soul
Instead of causing grief

He gave me one last final gift
As he exited this place
He let me sit by his warmth
And kiss his expressionless face

I sat there and I kissed him
Remembering all he had done
And I realized that this race I'm running
Is only halfway run

I know that like he used to say
There's more ahead than back

And if my son can find the road
My father showed back then
And I can help him get there
Then my dad will kiss again

He'll kiss through the sunshine
The ocean and the wind
And through my son Nathan
my dad will kiss again

Michael and Nathan 
on Nathan's first Birthday
February 18, 2001

Daddy, a year has past since you flew a way,
Mommy and I miss you and speak of you each day

Since I am only 4 and have much to know,
watch over me Daddy as I LEARN & GROW

Mommy tells me when you love someone they never are really gone,
we keep your memory in our hearts and there you live ON & ON

In the dark of my room, with the stars shining BRIGHT,
I send you sweet kisses to tuck YOU in at night

Love and Kisses, xoxo

Your Little Prince Forever,

Nathan Walt

In May 2003 Mike married his soul mate, Elena, a fellow teacher. 
Though brief, their union was clearly blessed, as anyone could see 
how much they adored each other. 

Our students knew we were meant to be together, even before we did. They started calling us Romeo and Juliet. 

I remember Michael barging into my classroom, with his arms crossed. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I used to be the coolest teacher, now I hear it's a tie," and stormed out. The students and I just laughed. 

As I was teaching Kiplings' poem, "If", he walked in and began reciting the poem. I was more than a little impressed! I later learned that it was his favorite poem as well. 

The depth of our connection was even more evident when I began teaching the eighth grade my favorite book, "The Little Prince." I'll never forget the look on Michael's face when he walked by my room as we were reading. He stood there in complete shock. He began quoting lines from the story and said that "The Little Prince" was his favorite book as well. 

This was too much of a coincidence, and the rest is history. 

We often quoted lines from that book to each other ("It is only with the heart that one can see clearly, what is most important is invisible to the human eye"). 

It's a beautiful story and we often spoke of how we reminded each other of "The Little Prince" in so many ways. 

For those of you who've never read that book, or haven't read it in awhile, I urge you to read it. It's the kind of story that you'll interpret differently at different stages in your life. 

I guarantee you that the main character will remind you of Michael, who will always be my "Little Prince".

Elena Jakovich

I had just bought a house in Ft Lauderdale in the early 90's and at about that time I had a burglar alarm installed. Along with the alarm I paid to have it monitored on a monthly basis. 

As part of the monitoring agreement I was required to give the name and phone numbers of who the monitoring company should call in addition to the police if the alarm went off. So I gave them my brother Michael's name. 

Naturally the alarm went off the first week by accident while I was out. When I got home I listened to my answering machine and there was this message from Michael. 

"Get out of that house you burglars. You have no business being in there. It's wrong to steal from other people. Shame on you."

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It was 1998 and I wanted to quit smoking cigarettes before I got pregnant with 
Nathan. I tried the patch, and still had a hard time doing so. I talked to Michael 
about seeing an acupuncturist and he agreed I should try it.

So off I went to this person's office and proceeded to have the first of several treatments. It was wonderful and the woman explained to me all about how the shape of one's outer ear (which was where she put the needles for treatment) was so much like 
an upside down fetus while in the uterus during development.

She went on to explain how that by putting the needles in exact locations in the outer ear, it was like treating the body's kidneys, lungs, liver, etc and this would help 
me overcome my urge to smoke. Which it did! 

I found this amazing and after the first treatment, I ran home to share the new knowledge with Michael.

We were sitting face to face in our living room at the time and I was 
explaining the details of the acupuncture to Michael. 

He was patient and straight-faced as I went through the whole long story of the upside down fetus and the outer ear and yada yada yada.....

When I finally finished he said to me with the straightest face.....

"Jody....do you see this?" (he was putting his head way back and pointing with two fingers at both his nostril's) 

I said "yes" and he replied......"this is a two car garage":)

This is the second service for Michael. The first was in Florida on Thursday. I wish you could have all been there. There was standing room only. Over 300 people came to pay their respect and honor Michael. Many of those who came were his students. 

The rabbi who spoke referred to Michael as someone who shed light on the world. What Michael did was shed light so others could find their way, and when we read some of the poems his students wrote for him, you will understand what an amazing teacher and guide he was.

My memories of Michael go back to his childhood. I can see a smiling kid, who could always make you laugh. A sensitive kid who viewed the world with trust and acceptance – no judgments based on race or wealth or the lack thereof. To Michael everyone had worth, every kid, every homeless person walking the street. Everyone.

Elena told me about their magical trip to New Orleans. While on that trip Michael befriended a homeless man who would wait for them everyday and sing love songs to them, many of which he made up especially for them. One of the pictures Elena shared with me shows a beaming Michael with his arm around an equally happy black man.  From Michael he got respect and his gift back was his song.  (SEE PHOTO)

Michael was special. Michael was magic. He touched everyone around him, although many didn’t quite understand him or who he really was. Some saw Michael as someone constantly trying to reinvent himself, but maybe he was just experiencing life more fully than we could ever image, certainly more fully that most of us…he was Mike, Mr. J, Michael Maxwell, Michael Siesta. 

To me he was simply cousin Michael. 

Everyone has their own belief system, a way to make sense of that which makes no sense at all. In mine, Michael has found peace. In mine, Michael will always be present in me, present in all of us. 

In the Jewish prayer of remembrance, death is not mentioned. In our belief system one is carried in the hearts of those they touched, those who love him. So Michael truly lives on in all of us.

My daughter, Lila, had a special relationship with Michael. She said he always gave her lots of advice, not always the right advice, but advice nonetheless. 

She is creating a wonderful scrap book of her senior year and there is a page with Michael’s picture on it. 

Included is the following poem:

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush.
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there. I did not die.

There were so many things that made my uncle special and one of those things was his personality. He made friends so easily and so many people loved him. There were over 300 people at his funeral and that’s not all, he has more friends in New York, Canada, Boston, California and Florida. 

He was able to live so many places in only 43 years. He was funny, nice, and never mean. One time that was funny was when he had to drink a lot of coffee so he wouldn’t fall asleep when he was watching me and then he burned the popcorn, but when I went to my friend's house, who’s only nine, he made the popcorn perfect. 

He was very generous and always helped others that needed help, especially his family and his students, who he treated like family. 

Another thing about Uncle Mike was his passion. He not only loved his family and students, but he loved the world and always was there to help people who needed help. His students would call him any time of the night if they were in trouble and he was always there for them. 

He loved comedy and making people laugh, sometimes he even made himself laugh. 

He loved football, especially watching with my dad. His favorite team was the NY Giants and he got very excited during the games.

Finally, his work was very important to him. He was a wonderful teacher who was loved by his students. He was a Middle and High school teacher of all subjects who helped kids with problems. 

He loved horses so much that he had his own horse and carriage business. A funny thing he did was when he got in trouble for leaving the horse in the street when he went to get his mom. 

He also ran a business called Mobile Mikes’. He got me a cool, light-up phone for my birthday. 

He was so funny that he even had a TV show called Mick at Night. At this time people called him Mickey. He went to all different comedy clubs to perform.

All of this is what made my Uncle Mike so special and I will miss him very much.

Mike and Matt

We had met Michael while living in Florida, when he was our son's teacher. We all became like family, and we spent a lot of time hanging out on our sacred little piece of the El Rio Canal, at Senor Burrito Restaurant, and other places. 

When, after 3 years of living in Florida, we made a family decision to return to California, Michael kept saying, "You aren't really leaving; you can't go". 

Naturally, we felt terrible about leaving such a dear friend, but in the whole scheme of things, it felt right, so we proceeded, against Michaels' best efforts, to make plans.

Finally he realized we were serious; we had plans and plane tickets to go. He said, "OK, then, I'm going to make a party for you before you leave". Over and over we told him that wasn't necessary; that he was the only party we needed, that we had a million and a half things to do in a short time, and that we loved him. But he insisted.

So finally, in the last weeks of our time there, he nailed me on setting a date. I picked one evening that would work, and he said he would invite folks over to his house, and have Senor Burrito send over some food, knowing that was our preference.

When the night came for our gathering, a few friends showed up and we were enjoying chatting when suddenly Michael came back with a car full of food. There were maybe a dozen folks there with us, and he brought in tray after tray after tray of beans, and rice, and guacamole. 

Finally, we all stared at him and laughed. "What were you expecting, Michael, the Mexican Army?" There were mountains of beans piled high in the trays, and people were just staring. 

Michael looked at us, pleased as punch, and said "I wanted you to feel loved. Now help me out here; I'm gonna be eating beans for a year!" So we all dug into the mountains of food, laughing and knowing that Michael did it exactly the way he wanted to.

And I think Michael lived that way; he danced on the edge, played with life, tried many different things, and loved everyone... even those who hurt him were given more chances. He just never seemed to lose faith in people. 

And we will always feel Michaels' love in our lives - especially when we eat Mexican!

I have  been friends with Michael for almost 20 years. Our grandmothers were best friends and that is how we were brought together. Michael and I were very close friends especially during the years we lived about a mile from each other in NMB. 

We acted together in community theater plays. In fact we co-starred in "Barefoot In the Park" in 1993- He was Robert Redford and I was Jane Fonda. 

Since we both got married and had kids we rarely saw each other. In fact the last time I saw him was almost 2 years ago and we hadn't spoken in almost a year. But he was such an old, good friend it didn't matter. I knew he was just a call or email away. It is very hard to believe he is gone. 

I know he is looking down from heaven and saying "WOW. I wish I realized how much I was revered." 

Very few people have had the impact that he did on so many lives.

That is the gift of being a teacher. (I, too, am a teacher) Debbie 

I knew Michael from the day I was born. I have the greatest memories with him. The main thing about him is that whenever I think about Michael, I smile. He made me laugh like no one on this planet can do. 

I literally could not breathe when I was with him....
I called it a belly laugh.....
that is what he made me do every time I was with him....
laugh until I couldn't catch my breath. 

He also had an amazing way of making me feel like a million bucks!! 
Whenever I was with him he made me feel like I was the smartest, most beautiful and greatest human being. 

I heard Pam, I think,  say at his service...he made everyone feel that way!

My most recent funny Michael story was...

 When he was at my parents house with his mom and Nathan. I ran over with my kids so we could see Elaine and Michael and Nathan. 

We were all dressed and Nathan was walking around the pool deck. He was about one and 1/2 years old. All of a sudden Nathan fell into the deep end of my parents pool.

My husband who we call, Spoon, dove in fully dressed to pull Nathan out of the pool.  Nathan really was awesome... he was not upset that he fell in and went under the water with all of his clothes on!! 

Anyway, Michael was so thankful he kept saying....
Spoon, you saved my sons life!! I will never forget you!! 
I love you man....You are like a g-d to me!!! 
I will pray to you from now on!!! 

He was such a character. I can go on and on about Michael.

He is greatly missed. No one can or will ever take his place.

I am so honored to be a part of everything that is taking place right now. I so appreciate everyone that is making all of these wonderful things and connections happen in Michael's honor.

With all of my love,

Rebecca

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