Greg Moss, (1970 - 2012) - ForeverMissed.com Online Memorials

Let the memory of Greg be with us forever

42 years old
Born on May 31, 1970
Passed away on July 3, 2012

This memorial website was created in the memory of our loved one, Greg Moss, born on May 31, 1970 and passed away on July 3, 2012. We will remember him and his kind heart forever.

The memorial service was held on August 23rd, 2012 at Civic Center Park and continued at Little Shanghai Restaurant in downtown Denver, CO. There was a balloon ceremony at Civic Center Park. All attendees wrote messages on a piece of paper and tied them to their balloons. Following the balloon ceremony, the service continued at Little Shanghai restaurant where people shared stories of Greg.

You may write a tribute for Greg, share a story and add pictures as well.

NOTE: Our Gathering in Taos in memory of Greg's birthday on Friday, May 31st, 2013, took place on an inspiringly beautiful evening. Taos was where, on a visit two Christmases ago, Greg decided he would like his spiritual home to be, if his doctors could not save him. Dinner yesterday at Kay Harvey's house ended with toasts and moving personal memories of Greg. There were anecdotes of his courtesy and sense of humor—even under terrible circumstances—his courage, strength of character, and his unfailing gentlemanliness. We spread Greg's ashes beneath a lovely old apple tree that grows on one corner of Kay's property. At the foot of the tree lies a large, rounded stone, as if purposely set there for a visitor to sit and contemplate the life of our beloved son and friend, Greg Moss, a life cut short.

Bruce Moss

Tributes

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July 3, 2023

Dearest Greg. It is impossible to describe how much I miss you. In so many large and small ways. Sometimes it is just a comment that someone finds amusing and I think, in that moment, you would have laughed too. Your grandmother, Ruth, is now 97. We talk about you often. She remembers wonderful stories from when you were a child. We love to reminisce about those days. All the nights you stayed up late talking with my father. We all miss you. And yet somehow you are still here in our lives. Your extraordinary grace sets a high bar for us all to follow. I love you. Barbara

July 3, 2023

On a day like this, Greg, I think of how heroic you were in that hospital, from January of 2012, every day, through July 3rd, as Dr. Bearman and his staff did everything they could to save your life. Time after time, they tried to kill the HTLV1 retrovirus and your T cells that the virus had turned against you. You had faith that the people at St. Luke's would beat the odds and let you live the rest of your life, as you put up with one painful procedure after another. After each unsuccessful try, with your heroic sense of humor, you'd ask, bleeding from the most recent IV infusion location in your throat, "Are we happy yet?" I felt helpless, watching you, my wonderful son, who'd had to battle one thing after another in your life, having now to face such a nightmare, day after day, night after night. Those who know and love you will never forget what you went through, Greg. Wherever you are, know that we love and admire you so much. Stai bene, mio figlio bravo. Ti amo tanto. I think of you often every day with love and admiration.
Your loving Dad.

May 31, 2023

Happy Birthday, Greg, my man. It's hard to believe you're 53 years old, wherever you are, dear one. I've published my novel "A Death in Florence," and as you might have guessed, I've dedicated it to you: "To the memory of my dear son Greg, lost to cancer." I'm so glad you lived to read and comment on the first version of it.
I recently took that photo of you—when you'd just turned four, the one I took up on the Prato Magno when we all drove up there that last summer of '74 in Figline—and hung it exactly at the spot on the wall where you came and knocked in my study a few days after you passed into the dimension you're in now. I was thinking the other day about my waking to give you your Enfamil bottle in the middle of those nights in the cottage when you woke up hungry during those weeks after you were born. Thanks for so many memories, my dear Greg. I miss you every day. Love, Your Dad

May 31, 2023

Happy birthday, Greg. Keep sending good vibes to your dad! I think of you often.

May 31, 2023

Dear Greg,
I love to celebrate your birthday. I always wake up when it is still dark to listen to the first bird songs, the first stirrings. I look to the east for the first light in the sky. A little after 4 and your birth day begins. It breaks my heart that we lost you. But it fills my heart to remember the time we did have with you. I still hear your voice and I still see your smile that I brightened our lives I remember the boy who became a man who valued what was fair and just. I am so happy for the miracle of your life. Happy Birthday dear Greg. Love, Barbara

December 22, 2022

Christmas never comes around without my thinking of you and missing you, my dear Greg. I know you never made a big deal of holidays, but I have pictures of you when you were 8 or 9, sitting with Barbara around the electric trains with me. I also want you to know that my novel, "A Death in Florence" will come out in a month or so, and I'm dedicating it to you (you read an early version): "To the memory of my dear son Greg." I'll never forget your return, my brilliant, handsome son. Merry Christmas, with love, your Dad.

July 3, 2022

Dearest dearest Greg.... It seems impossible that it has been 10 years. Our lives were forever changed by losing you. But I am so grateful... especially for the time we spent together that last year of your life. A year unlike any other. I am so thankful that I could be with you. You fought such a fight.... with amazing grace.... To be with you when your heart beat one last time was something I am forever grateful for. There are no words to describe how much I miss you. But there are also no words to describe how thankful I am. Love, Barbara

July 3, 2022

I still think of you often and fondly.
Big hug,
Diane

June 1, 2022

Ten years, such a long time without you, my dearly missed son. Yes, as your father just recalled, you'd be 52 years old now, by then a "life lived" for most people. And that brings home more poignantly than ever the fact that your life was cut off so soon and before you could marry and have kids. It seems so totally unfair and it makes me so sad...

My thoughts are with you, as always, dearest Greg.

June 1, 2022

Dear Greg, Ten years, and we all continue to think about you. No doubt you are in a better place than this crazy world! We all will be with you in the blink of an eye. With love, Diane

May 31, 2022

Greg, my dear son, it's been ten years since you passed over to the other side, and it's hard to believe it's been that long since you came back to show us that death isn't the end. I still gaze at your belongings in the storage room—your skates, for instance, from time to time. Has it been so many years since you skated so freely and enthusiastically over the frozen Cross River Reservoir, photographed by the Lewisboro Ledger and printed large as life on its front page that winter? I'm so sorry you never got the chance to show what you could do at DCP Midstream after your great start there. And I'm so sorry you
didn't get the chance to find the right lady and start a family. You'd be fifty-two now, and who knows what life might have held for you? Wherever you are now, I'm sure that place and you are mutually blessed, because the Greg I know is the finest of the fine, a boy and a man I was so fortunate to have been father to. Thank you., my dear son.

May 31, 2022

Dearest Greg.

I so look forward to this day each year. Your birthday. I was awake at 4 and watched for the beginning of a sunrise. Your birthday is always such a peaceful day. It is a day when time stands still. I listened for bird songs and thought of you… I listened to Pavarotti. Nessun dorma…. “Vinceró”… ! Which always brings tears to my eyes. On such a perfect morning I am filled with gratitude for your life. Happy Birthday, Greg.
With Love, Barbara

December 22, 2021

Greg, it's a few days before Christmas, 2021. I look at all my pictures of you, and miss all the times we were together, as well as all the times we should have been together. We will have a Christmas dinner up at Kim and Jeane's up in Truchas on Christmas Day, and I will be thinking of you, not just when I'm up there, toasting, "To those present…and to those absent," but many times afterward, every day. I will tell Matteo, my constant companion, "What a great man my son was!" Matteo will meow in assent.

May 31, 2021

Birthdays are always special moments of reflection, and this one in particular, for you Greg, my beloved son. To think that you would be 51 today if life had treated you differently is a shock for me. How time passes.

Even if I don't write a tribute every year, believe me, I still miss you every day. I still cannot come to terms with the feeling of how deeply unfair it is that you were not able to continue with your life. That we couldn't get back together before you had to go. So many things I wanted to show you, to talk about. All the beauty of Umbria this spring, the birds singing in the night, the new roses blooming in the garden, all this that could have been yours and that you are missing. I dream of all these heart-to-heart conversations we could have had, the special moments between mother and son, that couldn't take place, that are lost forever.

When I think of that, the lost opportunities, my heart breaks.

The pandemic, as news came of the terrifying wave rolling over the world, killing millions of people, provided me with perhaps the only moment I felt thankful you didn't have to see it. That you don't have to face a post-Covid world. But it's a small, paltry, almost ridiculous consolation. Because nothing can replace that which is gone forever.

God bless you.

Your Maman

May 31, 2021

Greg,
Nearly ten years. I think of you so often and know that you are in a wonderful place. For sure you remain in our hearts.
Abbracci,
Diane

May 31, 2021

Greg, here we are on Memorial Day, a fitting day for your birthday to fall on. For me, every day is Greg Memorial Day when I see the card you made for me that Valentine's Day so long ago, the week before we went to DisneyWorld. Your card, "Cat Opera," brightens my day, along with regrets that we didn't do more things together in days that are long gone. But we had a heck of a time on Space Mountain, that roller coaster in pitch darkness—it was terrifying! It was sweet of Barbara to help you with that card and I appreciate it more and more every day. It's as if you're writing it for me freshly every morning, sitting as it is on my hallway mantel. Thank you, my dear son, for coming back as you did, those two evenings, shortly after you left this world. It was a kindness I can never repay. I miss you more than I can say, Greg. I send you all my love.
Your Dad.

May 31, 2021

Dear Greg, your day begins... birds stirring... light returning... it is your birthday and the day begins... I am tempted to say it begins without you but that is not true. It begins filled with your presence. With memories. Impossible to miss you even more, but I do... when searching for the strength to get through the difficult days it is often your voice and laughter that guide me...
Today is your birthday and I am filled with gratitude for your life. I remember your last birthday and sleeping by your bed in the hospital. You slept so peacefully. I listened to your breathing... I remember waiting for you to wake up so I could wish you a happy birthday. When you saw me that morning you had the brightest smile. Happy Birthday, Greg. It is always a day filled with love. Your day. Barbara

April 23, 2021

I just found out. I hope you found some answers to those questions always left unasked. Be good; be safe. My friend.

July 3, 2020

Dearest Greg, I started the day as I usually do on this day... I sat by the sea... in the morning breeze... and I took in the smells of the ocean. It was a beautiful beautiful morning. This is what always brings me close you again. The sea and the sky. Impossible to describe how much I miss you... but I am forever grateful that your father and I were able to be with you as you left us... you were loved so completely... as you are today... I miss you. Please stay close to us... Barbara

July 3, 2020

Greg, when I said good night to you just after midnight ten hours ago I can't tell you how much I missed you. You were right, nine years ago, when you were diagnosed, and you said, Dad this isn't fair. So true, after all you'd been through in life. Not in any way fair. Yet you kept your cool throughout the rest of your days, kept your dignity and even temper, even your sense of humor, as things got worse and worse. If there were a commendation medal for courage under stress of illness, you'd have it many times over. I wish I could talk to you now, hear your baritone voice, I can only remember it. Stai bene, mio figlio tanto caro. Ti amo molto, tu sai. Ciao Greg. A presto…

July 3, 2020

Happy 50th, dear Greg. . I think often of our road trip together with my girls and your dad.
God bless,
Diane

May 31, 2020

dear Greg... Happy Birthday! It would be #50. We spoke about you last night with the little kids. The hero they never met. I so wish I had the benefit of your sage advice and perspective with our new lives. And new times. But you are my angel... out there...somewhere... guiding me through... With every bluebird, every sunrise, every miracle large and small.

I remember flying out to Denver for your last birthday. Arriving at the hospital in the middle of the night. Sleeping at the foot of your bed so I could see you in the morning. We all gathered that day. Your Dad. Michelle. Your favorite nurses. There was still a thread of hope... and the day was so precious.

How were you able to face those days with such courage? The world needs a little more of your strength, Greg... as well as your sense of justice.

We lost a treasure. The most profound loss. But we continue to weave you into our lives each day by remembering and continuing to learn from your example. Dearest Greg. I love you and I celebrate today... the day you were born.

Barbara

May 31, 2020

Here we are, Greg, at your 50th birthday. Hard to believe. It's been eight long years since you left us. I've missed you every day of those eight years. I keep the card you wrote me with the cat smiling a "Hi!" on my mantel. When I look at it it always cheers me up. You wrote that card thanking me before we left for Disneyland. A sweet thing you did all those years ago. I think of your return, so moving that I write about it again and again. The world has changed much since the years you were on this planet, and not for the best. I wonder sometimes what you might think of it. You have always had such a wise head on your shoulders, quietly assessing, taking your time, finally giving a well-considered decision. Wherever you are now, that place is far better for your being there. Be well, my beloved son. You are sorely missed. So much love, Your Dad

July 3, 2019

Dear Greg, I always wake up early on July 3rd. Before the day begins I watch the light returning to the sky. I watch the movement of the sea. The vastness. The distance. And that it is the time that I feel how close you still are to all of us... in the early morning... strange because you were such a night owl... from the time you were a little boy and loved to stay up late with my father. It is still so difficult to face the beginning of this day, July 3rd, without you. 7 years now... I think so often... on so many early mornings.... of the moment you left us... your father and I held you with all our love... all of our love... and it was as if our love had wings... We still hold you with all of our love... especially today...the bluebirds still sing for you.. I miss you terribly, my sweet boy. Love, Barbara

July 3, 2019

Dear cugino
I will never forget our times in Colorado in college . They were interesting. You showed me America. You were loved by everyone I met . I wish when I lived in Arizona I knew you were sick I would have been their.
The past is past . All I now is that I miss you and your laughter .
I remember all the quotes you would come up with late at night in Italy and in boulder .

July 3, 2019

You would be forty-nine years old now Greg, and the world is a poorer place without you. Your low-key way with people, your habit of listening people out before speaking your piece, your wonderful gift of generosity, whether over-tipping a cab driver or giving people the benefit of the doubt, or your special courage in accepting the terrible misfortune life dealt you in the end, you were in every way a hero. Un gran' abbraccio, mio figlio tanto bravo, tanto caro. With great love—your Dad.

May 31, 2019

Hi Greg,
I was just writing about that Sunday, May 31st 1970 when you came into this world. The dogwood in front of the cottage was in bloom with white blossoms, as were the brilliant dark-colored lilacs. The day before I had finished putting together your new crib. I could only stare at it. Now you would sleep in it. You asked me again in the hospital, two weeks before you left this earth (only to return), about how I felt, staring at it. Yes, I was overjoyed and humbled to gaze at that crib. Buon compleanno, mio figlio tanto caro, tanto bravo. Stai bene, come sempre!
Your Dad

May 31, 2019

Happy Birthday, dear Greg! I think of you so often. Give us another sign!
With love, Diane

May 31, 2019

Greg, your birthday is (once again!) a beautiful day. The light at sunrise is breathtaking. This is your day... Bird songs. A calm ocean. A morning of peace. I think of your courage everyday, Greg... every day. I know you are here as I watch the sun rise on your birthday... I feel your presence in this perfect morning. Happy Birthday, Greg. I miss you .... I miss you....
Love, Barbara

July 11, 2018

Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and how terribly I miss you. And miss the horrible fact that I wasn't aware of your ordeal and wasn't there in the last days of your life. For a mother, there is nothing more terrible, I have no words for the pain I feel, for all the moments I necessarily missed out on.
But I see how deeply you were loved by all those around you and that, at least, is a consolation. If I don't write as often as the others, it's because in life, our relationship was broken. I am not accusing anyone, just writing it down as a fact. An awful fact. Because I did love you, I always loved you, I was your mother and a mother's love never dies - no matter the circumstances.
You are, forever, my beloved son.

July 8, 2018

There were times, Greg, when you were two or three that I would pick you up to hold you out of sheer joy; as soon as you were in my arms you would twist to point to something invisible in the distance, your face shining with excitement, as if to reveal something I should see, Papa, so far away.

July 3, 2018

Dear Greg,
This is always a day of such heartbreak. But you gave so much in your life and your courage is there every day as an example to me... how to live, how to keep fighting... and how to appreciate all the details of the day no matter what. We miss you terribly. I always think of how much the grandchildren would have loved you. You would have been their hero. You are my hero. Love you always.

July 3, 2018

Greg, my son, you left this earth six long years ago. You would now have been 48 years old. Heaven knows what turns your life would have taken in those six years. You weren't given the chance. We all mourn you, my brave son, we admire you for your warrior courage in 2012. Be well, dear one. You are much loved by many. I, your Dad, miss you every day.

May 31, 2018

Happy 48th Birthday, Greg! I remember so clearly that May day in 1970 when I finished putting together that white crib in the cottage on my parents' place in Bedford Hills, NY, and standing there, incredulous that I was going to have a child in the next few days—my own child! You fulfilled all my expectations and more, Greg. Che figlio tanto bravo! Ho avuto una fortuna molto grande!
Stai bene sempre, Greg. I think of you every day with gratitude…
Your loving, admiring Dad

May 31, 2018

Dear Greg, we remember you on your birthday... but we remember you every day... all the ways that we miss you... every day... the bluebirds are back in their box with their young about to fly off... I watch them and I feel you nearby... your laugh is here... nearby... every day... all the ways that you continue to fill our lives... every day... we send all our love to you today on your birthday... and every day.

July 3, 2017

Thinking about you today, buddy. Miss you! XOXOXO

July 3, 2017

Dear Greg, Five years and as always I'm thinking of you. Glad to tell you your dad is in fine shape, but you probably know that. We all miss you but know you are nearby. Many hugs, Diane

July 3, 2017

Towards the end, Greg, you said, "Off you go then…off you go then…" cheerfully w/ that Brit accent, and when I asked you about it, you just looked at me, and I didn't understand, so intent that you should live. Well, I understand. You were resolved, in good cheer, to leave, after all you'd been through. It's been five long years, and in many ways you've been close, taught me much. Thank you my son. Ti amo tanto, come sempre. Ciao mio figlio molto bravo, tanto caro. Tuo babo.

July 3, 2017

Dearest Greg, it is five years ago today...and it is still an unimaginable pain... I was up early to watch the dawn, to hear the bird songs and to think of your life and your time with us. In the morning's quiet light I know you are here... I hold you forever... so grateful for you... with huge love...

May 31, 2017

Dearest Greg, I celebrate your birthday and your life... with a heart filled with love. The bluebirds were outside the window even before sunrise and they always remind me of you. I think of you each day... and I know you are somewhere close by... I feel your calm voice and your smile... You would have been so happy to meet Caroline, Wes, Payson and Nat...(they would have loved you!) I think of you every time their tiny faces light up in a smile... thank you for the gift of your life and the joy you brought us all. I so miss you...Love, Barbara

May 31, 2017

Dearest Greg, I'm thinking of you today (as I do many days) and wishing you a wonderful birthday today! I know you're looking down on us and I'm praying you are happy at what you see. Keep smiling as we will see you again. Your friend - Dena

May 31, 2017

Happy Birthday, Greg, figlio mio molto caro e bravo.
I've placed an ad in the Denver Post the 29th, 30th, and today in honor of you, reminding your friends and co-workers who miss you that it is your 47th birthday. I think of you every day, something you said or something you laughed about—I miss that wonderful deep laugh of yours. Be well, my dear son, I know you are in a very special place. You'll always have my love,
respect and admiration.
Your Dad

May 31, 2017

Happy birthday, dear Greg. I hope where you are now is peaceful and happy. Here things are a little crazy. Sure miss you, Diane

July 3, 2016

Caro Greg, I'm sure you are at peace in a beautiful place, but please keep visiting your dad. I think of you often.
Abbracci, Diane

July 3, 2016

Dearest Greg, how can I forget your extraordinary courage in those last weeks, when the last try at chemo failed. You were unfailingly courteous to the doctors and the nurses, your comrades in the effort to save your life. You were and are so loved and admired for the way you endured your long ordeal, and showed Barbara, Michelle, me, and so many others how to face death, this day, four years ago.
Stai bene, mio figlio molto bravo, ti amo tanto.
Your Papa, your Dad

July 3, 2016

Dearest dearest Greg... it is joy to have a beautiful morning on the day we remember your life.... The surface of the sea without a breath of wind... the exquisite songs of birds....In the garden I created in your memory... a place of magical light and peace... I miss you, miss you, miss you. Barbara

May 31, 2016

Dear Greg... this day, your day... you are deeply missed, you are forever loved...we remember all that you gave and your incredible strength. I remember the nights you called me past midnight. You, the night owl... and me... the early bird... we talked for hours about life, purpose, hope and fear... I am so grateful for all those talks. So thankful that I could be by your side those final days and hours... I am so thankful for your life, Greg, and everything you taught me. Happy day of your birth. Love always. Barbara

May 31, 2016

Greg, towards the end, in the ICU, you asked me to repeat the story of how I put together your white crib before you were born. So I did, and told you how after I had put it together I stood there, in that small room in the cottage on my parents' place, and stared at it in wonder. My child would lie there, where now there was no one. You smiled when I told you that, in the ICU.
I didn't tell you (wish I had) that days after you were born someone gave you a small (maybe 8") terrycloth doll with black button eyes and red mouth set in a smile. At around three months, on your stomach, you would raise yourself until you could see that doll, which we'd set upright, facing you at the head of your crib. And when you could see it, you would smile broadly, and lower yourself down again…only to repeat it a few minutes later.
Life for you at three months was a smile, and your own smile was a thing to cherish. Happy birthday, mio figlio tanto caro.

May 31, 2016

My son, I will never forget you. I see those pictures of your life when you were a child and lived with me in Italy and they break my heart. I love you, I love you so much!

Your Maman forever

May 31, 2016

Happy birthday, dear Greg. Take care of your dad.

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Gallery

Greg Decemvir: Greg accepting award for academic brilliance

Greg with his good friend Alex, sent by Alex…

July 3rd, 2015—Flowers I placed today in Greg's memory at the foot of an apple tree at Kay Harvey's house in Talpa, NM. We placed Greg's ashes at the foot of this tree on May 31st, 2013, according to his wishes. Thank you, Kay.

Greg at left (click to see) w/ sudden new family

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Denver Post, May 29th, 30th, 31st

May 31, 2017

Greg receiving Decemvir award

October 4, 2015

In June, 1983, Greg received for the year the Harvey School's Decemvir (Decem=Ten/Vir=Man) award for academic performance, given to the top ten students in the entire school. We were very proud of him.

Greg receiving his Decemvir award

October 4, 2015

In June, 1983 at age 13, Greg receives from The Harvey School his Decemvir award, the academic award for achieving grades among the top ten students (Decem - Vir) in the entire school. He had come a long way in the past few years, and we were very proud of him.

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