Al, as so many others have said, graced our lives in Bothell.
He exuded joy -- even at 7:30AM -- and he was always in early.
With a bounce in his step and smile on his face, he brought light into AT&T.

This is a meditation before Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, that my uncle gave me when my brother died.  It brought me solice and has been meaningful for others with whom I've shared it; it seems to speak of Al:

When I die give what’s left of me away
to children and old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
cry for your brother walking the street beside you.
And when you need me, put your arms around anyone
and give them what you need to give me. 

I want to leave you something,
something better than words or sounds.
Look for me in the people I’ve known or loved,
and if you cannot give me away,
at least let me live in your eyes and not in your mind.

You can love me best by letting hands touch hands,
and by letting go of children that need to be free.
Love doesn’t die, people do.
So, when all that’s left of me is love,
give me away.

I had a chance to meet Al when he gave me a quick learning session re: marquees/panels last year. He was a very good instructor. He took the time to teach me the high-level overview of marquees/panels and ensured me if I get a new marquee assignment, he will be there to help me out. He was very helpful and very approachable, which is a very good trait for a team member. Then we got to talking about life outside work. He mentioned he lived in Fremont, CA. I was like - "I lived 15 minutes away from Fremont and I'm always in Fremont!". So Al mentioned when he visits Fremont, we were gonna meet and I was looking forward to meeting Al in person and was going to introduce my family to him. We didn't get a chance to meet in this lifetime, but I am sure Al's spirit is up in a better place where he is not in pain any longer. I saw Al as a very caring type of person, and I'm sure he is/will be missed by his dear family, relatives, friends and co-workers. God Bless ~

Al Roxin had been my next door neighbor for ten years, almost to the day.

Initially, we (my wife, Eliza, and I) didn’t see all that much of Al.  He was busy working a contract in Issaquah, and staying with his nephew, Justin, to avoid the commute from Edmonds to Issaquah.

After that his father’s health began to fail, so while we saw more of Al, he spent time with his father and family.

Al really came into my life several years ago when I would drive my wife to work early in the morning, if we saw his office light on, as we walked by the widow we’d say, “Morning Al”.  He’d jump up and look over the top of the window shade to see who said “Morning Al”; and then come to door and chat for a few minutes.

One morning I mentioned that I was thinking about taking some classes in programing, starting with HTML; explaining that would add to my tech writing skills.  The look on his face indicated that he thought that taking the class was a ‘stupid idea’. 

“Save the $800; I’ll teach what you need to know.”

That afternoon we started ‘my’ website.  For the next two and a half years and several websites, Al would stop by every day and whenever he was bored with whatever he was doing; to see what I was doing, or I would go over to his place when there was a problem with my code. We even started a data base app for mobile phones. It was going make us rich.

My wife said we’d become work spouses.

When Al got the contract to work at ATT in Bothell, our afternoon sessions became Saturday and Sunday morning walks with my dog.  We talked about what kinds of coding he was doing at work. Then our conversation would shift to national politics, local politics and a dozen or so of other topics.  But his favorite discussion topics were baseball, football, soccer, hockey (he’d met Don Cherry when Cherry played in Rochester) and the possibility of having a new Seattle basketball team.  Al knew and loved sports!

Every night as I come home from my dog walks, I'd look up at Al’s window and see the bluish television glow.  If it had been a late night walk, I figured that Al had fallen asleep while watching some ESPN highlights. 

Now I see a darkened window and I’m saddened. Even the dog knows something has changed.

Knowing Al was a gift.

Al I hiked up to Rattlesnake Ledges one spring day. 1200 feet gain in 2 miles; this was a bit of a push to this grand view of the North Bend valley. Al did great on this hike despite the steep grade. People were pointing to different places, birds, people on other ledges, so when in Rome... Al sticks his finger out. "Look at that!"

Al worked for several companies that brought him over seas. From his own collection, he acquaints himself with this... wallaby? Any know the year?

Al always enjoyed running/jogging. When I came out his home in Fremont, CA to visit one summer he told me he was already registered to run the annual Wharf to Wharf 10km run from Santa Cruise to Capitola. This run featured a garage band every half mile or so. There were many kinds of music, and it started with a Hawaiian band. Somewhere along the route another band played a Pretenders song. Al would play his air guitar as we ran on by. I am not a runner, but this was my first and favorite "fun run" ever. I can't place the year, but considering the amount of hair we both had, I'd guess August 1995.

Al and I shared in discussions about his dad, and my mom’s, kidney disease. We talked about how he’d moved to Seattle especially to be close to his dad, what he did to motivate his dad during his illness, how I was trying to help my mom, what we noticed and had learned about it all. He was such a good listener. For one thing, he didn’t have to listen or talk to me about something personal. The fact that he did, made me feel good, and said a lot about his character. He didn’t try to provide solutions, he kept to his experience in our conversations, and his empathy was helpful in itself. 

I love food and somehow Al and I were talking about going to lunch. He told me one of his favorite restaurants was called “What the Pho!”. If you don’t know, pho is a Vietnamese soup pronounced “fuh”. We got to laughing about that for several minutes. We must have needed food, haha, but I’ll never forget it.

 Having him on the team was refreshing because he soaked up what you said, and took off. I’d swear we’d not told him how to do something and I’d find out he’d already become fully engrossed in a project and accomplished his tasks. He may have asked someone but he just found people and got it done. And, anytime we got swamped, I’d ask if he had capacity to lend a hand. He was honest either way, and in such a pleasant manner. It made me want to help him, too, and I’d reach out when I could. Talking to him about work, he was completely non-judgemental or biased. So much so, that it turned out when I’d explain something to him, I could hear any of that tone in myself and correct it. Not purposely trying, he made me a better person in my job.

I’ll really miss him, knowing he’s there to talk to, and check-in with. I already do.

Al was such a genuine person.  He would stop you in the morning and ask how you were and how your weekend was and really wanted to know.  He didn’t just pass you in the hall with idle chit-chat and pleasantries.  He was always smiling and willing to help.  He will be missed on both a professional and personal level here in Bothell.

I had the pleasure of working with Al early last year during the time of a precipitous drop in CXT Solidarity team participation. Al helped us brainstorm, re-think and energize the CXT tSpace Community page Photo collage. Al was always highly creative, responsive, and enthusiastic despite sagging team spirit. Al created an attractive and engaging flash version of the photo college with the CXT image (composed of 137 CXT team members’ photos) fading into the map of CXT team locations. Thank you, Al Roxin, Rich Media Technical Implementer Extraordinaire! I will miss you.

I met Al in October of last year, so I knew him for about 5 Months, and in that short period of time he became a very close friend of mine. I often said he was a like a grandfather to me, because he was always giving me advice, recommending restaurants, wine, and other things to try, even giving me advice on buying my first home and the name of his mortgage broker.

Throughout the football season every morning after a game we would get together after our morning meeting and we would talk about the Seahawks, he had so much to say and I loved discussing all the good and bad plays with him.

Al was a very hard worker, and even though his role was considered SLA, he was considered a full Pod member. He was always the first person to a meeting, always willing to help anyone with anything, and he was great at his job.

He also always appreciated the treats I brought in, telling me he loved my cookies and brownies so often that I made him a special batch.

He really took the time to get to know me and I feel extremely fortunate to have met him, he will be missed.

During my last trip to Seattle Al and I got into a discussion about guitars and amps.  We shared a common passions and talked about all the different things we've bought over the years to get better or different sound out of a guitar.  The next day Al brought in 2 micro travel amps and wanted me to pick which one I wanted to take home.  I was floored, and completely caught off gaurd, at how generous he was.  He was not only being nice, he was interested in connecting/sharing/learning with me (and others here at work) because that's who he was.   I will miss his sense of humor but also his life experience that he shared with me, and others, that made him unique and special.