Hey Unc - I was just thinking about that one time when you and I were riding back to your house; I forget where we were, only that we were heading back, and you were driving. Some guy was riding our bumper and you let off the gas and just coasted - while you did this, you explained why you did it and at the time all I could think of is I'm like the guy behind us, just trying to get wherever he was going as quickly as possible. The lesson that I only learned afterward was that no matter how fast or slow you're going, if you stay the course, you'll get there eventually. And maybe piss off a few people along the way but what's life if you can't have a little fun while you're living it? I miss you man, but I know you're in a better place. Kiss my Grandma for me, would you? And tell Uncle Grizz I said hey, miss him too.

Still miss you thank you for all you said and did to ensure your family was safe and could survive all manner of circumstances. Love you Daddy!

Missing my Daddy but knowing you are loving the rest with your Heavenly Father. The light you shined while on earth continues to shine through your family.

Love you Daddy! Xoxoxox

Hi Daddy! Thinking of you on the day that you decided to go home to our heavenly father. I miss you dearly❤️

I am sitting here with your Gummy Bear Micah and we were looking at pictures of you. They will remember you and I will try my best to share all the lessons that you taught.❤️

Always,
Your Bubba

happy birthday Cochise! Missing you ! Your smile your sense of humour , your caring for both sets of family ...  tireless energy ... everything. Be happy be “well”- that’s weird -but we are all Diggs’
See you next year! Or next month depending on plans for me ..... course I may need AC!

Thinking of you Daddy...funny thing happen yesterday and I couldn’t stop laughing....

Micah would not eat her dinner but wasn’t acting ugly. So she didn’t get in trouble but was told that she could go ahead and go upstairs and brush your teeth to get ready for bed but could not have snack… naturally, because she did not eat her dinner. She was unhappy but not too upset. Meanwhile, Noah did eat all of her dinner and was allotted a snack. When she picked her snack, she wanted ice cream. I Felt generous and knew it could be really sad for Micah if she knew but she should stay up stairs after brushing her teeth anyway and no reason for Noah to miss out when she did what she was supposed to. So I let her have ice cream. And then of course, Micah comes down after she brushes her teeth when she wasn’t supposed to and sees Noah eating the ice cream. The minute I heard her coming down the steps I was like Uh-oh… And I started giggling. When she got downstairs and saw the frosty dessert Noah was eating… She immediately started bawling. Then all I could think about was you and how we would probably be in the corner somewhere trying not to laugh… That made me laugh even more so I couldn’t hide it. I really had to help her understand that I was not laughing at her and that tomorrow is a new day where she could get the same treat as long as she eats her dinner. Felt like such a horrible parent moment LOL but knew that you and I would die laughing over it!!! Miss and love you Papa-Toy!

Thinking of you Baby on this 4th Father’s Day without you, wanting to honor you on this day when tributes are made to fathers throughout the world. You were an amazing father, not only to our biological children, but to every other child that ever entered our home! You always had an encouraging word, a smile, energy and a tangible gift to put in their hands before they left us. I do believe every single niece and nephew got an instrument at one point in time so that our legacy of music could continue on to the next generation. I remember the times when you used to run races up the street with the girls, our trips to George’s Island, Cape Cod, the amazing throw down barbecues, and even your “step talks”. Too many memories to even mention. Your late night star gazing, and stories of hanging with Bobby your “friendly” ? forest buck, lol.... I am so glad that you had time here to enjoy “Favor Forest”, and years of our late night gardening marathons ;0)
I wonder often now what you would think about all that we are going through now in our world in 2020, but I know that we would probably still be having deep biblical discussions as we always did before. You prepared all of us pretty well, my dear, and you always helped us to think out of the box,. No matter how rough situations got, we could always find something to be thankful for and to laugh about. 
Today I honor you Cochise! My silent, yet present warrior. You fought the good fight as long as you could here on earth, and now in heaven, You will always be my “Ribbon in the Sky!”   ❤️ Eternal Love

Hey Daddy! You wouldn’t believe the times we are living through right now… Then again you would believe it LOL.… And you would have us all prepared! I think this Quarantine would actually really be a fun time for you since you like to be to yourself but you wouldn’t love not having all your family together. Mom is holding down the fort in your stead! He taught us all well. Your granddaughters miss you and Papa toy comes up at least once a month

I miss you and think of things that you probably would have enjoyed or are you still with us here… Sheldon and I just finished “The Punisher“ on Netflix; I think you really would’ve liked it! By the way… My hair is growing back and getting really full… It makes me look more like you HA!

Well, hard to believe you have been gone from this earth for three years already… It’s still hard to digest that I can’t pick up the phone and hear your voice… I miss you saying “I love you big girl” at the end of our conversations...Thank you for being such a great daddy❤️ I will always love you...

Hey Unc, I know you're up there watching us; I can only hope we are continuing to make you proud! You are missed, very missed. Love you man.

I miss you daddy but I think of you often. I think Micah prays for you at least once a month ❤️. She always asks about Papa toy in heaven. If you months back I walked in on her looking out the window and praying. When I asked her what she was praying about she said she was praying for you in heaven .
You would love hanging with her and Noah. They are nuts ☺️ Soooo wish they had you here as grandpa to grow up with like I did (as Daddy though).
Thank you for being a committed Dad and always being such an encouragement to me.
Two years have passed and while I still feel a void...I am starting to be able to really embrace the fond memories and not focus on the loss of your physical presence... miss you and love you xoxoxo

Cochise is my example of a calm, thoughtful, selfless man. 
I knew him many years ago. His self-assurance and self-confidence placed him head and shoulders above any crowd. His character withstands the test of time. May his family forever carry on his enormous humanity. In Christ’s Name, Dr. Brian K. Johnson

I thank God For The Blessing Of Knowing Cochise, A Godly Man, A Great Help To anyone who asked For Help Cochise was There. I Send My Prayers And Love To His Precious Wife Linda. And The family.

From the moment I met Cochise years ago, I could see his special spirit, his bright light. During our epic family gathering last July, Cochise and I spent our first and only time together. We shared love, joy and laughter. I am so grateful for that and carry his radiance in my heart.

Cochise had such a way of dropping wisdom, and understanding in the most quiet, but effective way. That also included sharing the rhythms and beats of his congas. He definitely helped to create the style and Brazillian feel to my music as we would play for hours and he listened to my same little chords over and over again, LOL. I always left his presence feeling good about myself, and where I was going.  To Linda, and my Diggs family, thank you sooo much for sharing your Cochise with us. I'm going to miss that dude so much, and I'm so thankful Linda for the year I got to spend with you guys before moving to NC. Be encouraged Linda, Mai, Trinity, Telli, Harmony, and family. Love You!

To the family, we are sorry for your loss. I pray God will comfort your family as he is comforting our family.

Tiger 4 life my friend my team mate classmate wow. you are truly miss. enjoy the years a true gentleman . we are tigers big d just loss for words Pray for understanding for the family.

Uncle Cochise, I've known you my entire life; there aren't many people I can say that about and now I'm one fewer. I know we weren't as close as we would have liked to be, but I always kept you in my thoughts; I liked that we used to play phone tag- and now I wish we could've connected more. Still...I'm only sorry that we'll not have any more chances, but I'm glad for the times we did get to have. 

Now that you're up there with Grandma, I'll just bet the two of you will be having many laughs at all of our future antics, whatever they may be- but also sending us love, like you always did when you were with us. Rest in peace, Uncle. Love you.

Uncle Chise,

No matter how far apart we were you always took time out just to say hey. I remember you were the one who helped me figure out how to work out my timing with music hand eye coordination improvement and how to deal with hyper active "kids that needed a nap" haha. I'm no good at these, and I wasn't very involved with those not physically close to me. You always made an effort though and it made a difference to me even though its too late to formally thank you. Instead I will take the example you left me and work toward improving my ability to stay in contact. Rest in peace Uncle.

Cochise, I miss you like all get out. suddenly, you were gone. It seems to be not fair. it feels massively not fair. no, not at all. but we have got to go on.... So, you were a rock, for your family, your brothers, your friends, and more. the smartest of the 7 Diggs brothers, most creative, most musical, amazing psychological insights, much much more...much more.Yeah, painful to write these words to you, while photos of you click on by; memories on top of memories...yep, totally unfair! but what is done is done.So, I miss the times we had together and with the brothers, the jokes and stories, oH the stories! the stories we could tell; the ones we would tell. the folks in our lives..Grandtrash, TOOTSIE, PeeWee, uncle earnest,Gregg's slick santa stories, Mikes' everything-saving the day of that xmas when we got gloves and a transistor radio.shoot, we were sad- having laughed at Pepino, the farm hand on "the Real McCoys". pop must have heard us, cause we got the same presents Pepino received[gloves, radio] we got,. Mike came thru with that table Hockey game.awesome. rescued all of us from that sodden feeling[xmas wasn't xmas until then: thanks Mike   ..well there is probably not enough GB to hold the memories we all want to share...memories of you and of us. all of us, all of you....Cochise and Grizz; Linda, Mai Telian, Trinity; Harmony and other chidren you and Linda adopted; Roy, Linda's dad still walking the earth. others i didnt know about...cause i was gone a lot: overseas, or just up the "block" in Cambridge....well.Cant stop the memories, can't change them. cant take them back.don't want to give them away...that is all I've got .and i have got to stop;dont want to bore folks more than i have..So, so baby brother, you pronounced "sugar" as "liqa" which was pretty funny considering your age at the time..Basketball at Kennedy park, "brown butt", "gizzard" 'ignots' as if we didnt have names unusual enough. 6 of us left. Damn. inevitable, of course, of course,, yet , somehow, it always seemed to me that we would go on and on, talking trash, and basketball, boxing,
jokes, lots of jokes to ease the recurrent pain of growing up..An avalanche of memories cascading down on me/us.
shoot. you are somewhere up there i suspect; what might you be thinking? feeling? seeing? What does the big guy look like?or is it a big gal? do the trains run all night? july 4th barbeques? White castle burgers? Donut powder round my mouth? Momma checkin us out; yep i was the only one with the telltale evidence..Cochise, there is so much more, so damn much more; I miss you Cochise. I love you, Cochise; never ever told you that....too late? ya think? if you are reading this, not too late just in time..here i am, I love you Cochise! always have, always will.always.shoot....

your brother [as if you forgot] 

Byron #3-Gizzard; B Butt.with his 'old man walkin shoes" [thanks gregg] 

you can still come back, Cheese, visit 'n tell us how good we look? leave

a lil sign, ok

To everyone that knew Cochise, no matter how brief or long, take all that he has shared with you and bless others. Make each day count, as you live a life that is full of all that God has destined for you.