Ryan Seacrest?

by Marisa Castro
(in picture left-right: Matt, Mike, Correy, Laura, Marisa and Leanne)

I met Correy at Santa Teresa through Melissa (Norman) and he and I took two classes together our senior year. He is truly one of the most remarkable people I have ever met and I feel blessed to have known him. He always had a smile on his face and kept things interesting in class - which was much appreciated as most of the lessons were repetitive. Plus it didn't really matter what our government or econ teachers were saying as Correy would stretch out in front of me and completely block the board, explaining to me: "Marisa, it doesn't matter that you can't see the board because you already know this stuff. This way my back and your brain can rest comfortably." This is typical Correy conversation and i cherish all the one's we've had, which regrettably have been less in the past year.

Correy is the kind of friend in which months can pass and then one day you read/write an email and pick right up where the conversation ended. But most of my fondest memories are hanging out in person at one of our friends houses, whenever I would return to visit San Jose.

Correy is a pillar of support to so many people and a wonderful listener. Last summer - I still can't believe it was a year ago - I was struggling to decide on if I should change career plans going into my senior year of college. It was incredibly hard for me to admit that I might be on the wrong path. Correy simply listened to my concerns - at a party no less - and gave me the simplest advice: :do what makes you happy. You're smart and can do anything so you might as well do something you enjoy." Correy is remarkable in his ability to be deep and caring, and then turn around and make you laugh so hard you cry.

My favorite memory of Correy is from our econ video project senior year of high school, in which Correy played Ryan Seacrest (who was eating during the entire shoot because Correy wanted to see Ryan eat something) and a man who had identity theft from a young girl shopping for shoes. It makes much more sense when you see them in person. Both roles were great.

I pray for Correy daily and believe he is in Heaven. While he is not physically here I will always carry his memory with me, as I'm sure everyone who ever met him does too. Correy will always be my friend.

Correy/Monastery Beach 1 year later

By Correys Dad

Today, August 20th, 2010, 1 year since Correy died, I spent the morning at Monastery Beach, sitting, watching the waves crash ashore. Correy's entire life flashed through my head as each wave rolled in another year of his life passed.
I remember the day he was born, right through teaching him to ride a bike. Playing baseball in the street to teaching him to shoot a gun, the memories flashed by.
Our camping/fishing trips to the Sierras and Correy helping me search for missing people. The last Opening Day Fishing Season where it snowed, Preston, myself & Correy braved the cold temperature & snow storm just to camp out on a family tradition. Correy did the Captain Morgan pose. Watching Correy teach children to scuba dive at Monterey Bay Aquarium, you remember when he himself was that young, now he's the adult teaching kids his favorite hobby. Watching him go through kindergarten,through grade school, junior high, high school, junior college, then off to a State University, it ALL happened so fast. Correy starts dating girls, then finally finds the one, Rachel, his life is coming together. His priorities are straight, going to school, working at Any Water Sports & on the Cypress on weekends. I still remember coming home from a job a year ago and Vanessa telling me Correy had died, I was numb, I don't think it really sunk in until now, I always thought he would be back, his smiling face, his quick comebacks & his perseverance. Trying to make sense of the whole thing is bewildering, he was well trained & with the BEST OF THE BEST, Frank & Scott, he always had quality gear. So many people sit & don't do anything in life, Correy was truly making an impact on many, many people, he was on track. He had money in the bank, a career path, a great woman at his side, he knew where he was headed. The waves keep crashing ashore yet the future memories just are not there. The pounding surf now reminds me of an old record player where the record that's finished playing, yet the needle keeps making the same ending sound. The waves are haunting & endless but Correy's life has come to an end...TRAGIC!!!!!!!!!

Wish I could tell him

You will find other stores from Andrew in the future but this is a small part of one he sent to us last year and I am trying to get a few posted today.

by Andrew Beck

Writing that piece (pirates story) is about the closest thing I've come to being able to fully talk about his passing, and I don't think I'll ever truly comprehend the massive effect he's had in shifting my life to a course I can be proud of.

He has become an insurmountable inspiration to behold and understood what it means to be a man, even if he wasn't so outwardly sure of himself. In my daily life, I find myself often holding my tongue when I feel I want to say something hurtful or remain calm when I don't feel like I have patience because I think to myself, "Correy wouldn't do this." And more than anything, he taught me about loyalty. He was the only person I knew whose loyalties knew no bounds. I've had others tell me of when they were left all alone by friends who had left them behind, Correy was the sole person to stand his ground by their side proudly. And seeing that kind of loyalty in action has changed so much for me. He has set me back on a path to become a person I can be happy with staring in the mirror, and I can't count how many times I have wished I had realized that when I could tell him all about it over a beer.

My friend Correy

Melissa sent this to us on September 13, 2009 and I just couldn't get through it then to post it. I will try now.

by Melissa Norman
(pictured: Correy, Matt and Melissa)

Correy is my protector and always has been. AS the only girl in a group of guys I was the common target of mockery; but let's be honest, I was really easy target. While sometimes Correy participated in their favorite activity of making fun of me, he also stood up for me. If any of the other guys ever said anything and I just gave Correy a look or said his name, he would come to my rescue. Sadistically I enjoyed that Mike kind of feared him even though he was bigger and Matt would always flinch prematurely knowing Correy would actually hit him. After a while Correy started to teach me some of his martial arts tricks so I could challenge Matt as well as he could. I don't know if you know about either one of these, but the two main ones he showed me were the nail trick and the thumb trick. He was my protector in life and I know he'll continue to be.

Though I'm sure if he were around to deny it, he would sure try, but Correy had narcissistic tendencies. Specifically in high school, if there was a reflective surface within his vicinity, his reflection would show up on it. I don't think there was a night at Matt's house when the sliding glass doors didn't get a glimpse of Correy's abs.

Correy was such a kleptomaniac, especially when my purse was around. I'm not saying he would steal things ever, but any chance he got with the turn of my head, my keys would have disappeared to his pocket, my phone would magically have a picture of him as my screensaver, and there would be an impromptu, myspace style photo shoot ready to view on my camera. Every time we got together I know it was coming but I never caught him in the act. The last time I saw him back in July, I had just gotten my new phone and he did it again. So his picture is still my background and I found out when I had to turn my phone off and on to come on the plane home for the funeral that he changed the greetings message to "Hola bitches." Crazy kid.

Correy is one of those guys that touched everyone who met him with his beautiful smile, bright blue eyes, and unmistakable laugh. Over the past few years, after I left for school, we didn't get to spend as much time together as we used to or talk as much as we previously had. But we always got together at least once every time I came home to sit at the exact same table at the Starbucks on Snell and Santa Teresa. It was those times with him that I enjoyed the most because we went from not talking for months to picking up exactly where we left off like it had been only five minutes. It was there that we acted as faux therapists for each other, where we shared things that we didn't share with other people, and where he got to laugh at me on multiple occasions when I spilled hot chocolate in my lap. I think the hardest part about theses memories is that we were supposed to get together before I moved down to LA in the beginning of August because he told me he had stuff he needed to talk to me about. Unfortunately, something came up for him on the night we were supposed to get together but we made plans for Thanksgiving weekend. I think I'll always wonder about what it was he wanted to tell me, but I know he really was looking forward to telling me about Rachel, and though the circumstances were not in anyway ideal, I was glad I finally got to meet her because he had wanted me to.

I already posted on the blog about the baking cookies story, but there are so many other things that will always make me think of him. I don't know if any of them compare to Correy-memory-items of your lives but I thought I'd share mine. Here are some things in my life that always make me think of Correy, but even more so now; nude beaches (as he decided that would be a good place to take our little group of friends on the day when the wind wanted to blow sand that hurt, and the lone naked man was laying in the middle of the beach), baking and cookies (as mentioned online), whipped cream (from last Thanksgiving when he attacked Matt with half the can and put the other half into his mouth at one time), ripped jeans (because Correy used to wear these light blue jeans that had a hole in the crotch and would sit with his legs wide open because he thought it was funny), worn down shoes (as I had to beg him time and time again to buy new sandals because the ones he wore didn't stay together and had holes in the bottom), Natalie Portman (because both he and Tony are OBSESSED), country music, and his farting contests with himself. I don't think anyone will ever forget those.

The first time I met Correy was sophomore year in high school in our PE class. The only thing that I really remember about that year was that he constantly talked about turkey, in any form, would tell me he was going to soccer every day (even though he was actually going to martial arts), and how I would always see him, Matt and Tony playing games on their calculators at lunch. We bonded over writing and a love of country music and my unquenched curiosity that existed with me asking questions and him weasling out of answers (most of the time). He is a great man and I am so proud to be his friend. I will miss him so much, as I'm sure many people will. I went though all of my things once I got back to LA after the funeral and became thankful for my packrat tendencies. Correy and I were penpals for the first few years we were in college, and after reading through his letters, I was able to see how his life and goals progressed. They began right when Correy first signed up for scuba, before he developed his passion for it, where his career goals were at first uncertain, then he wanted to be a doctor/anthropologist like Bones, until finally he decided upon wanting to combine anthropology and scuba. I also found my old yearbooks and found what he wrote; he definitely had a way with words and wrote beautifully. One of my favorite things I found was a "diploma" he made me a few years ago. It has an honored spot on my wall, as it always has, though now it has an even more special meaning.

Correy was, is, and will always be one of my favorite people and I know his memory will live on in minds and hearts of all the people who love him as much as you do, and I do, and the boys do.