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DEL.ICIO.USFormerly resilient spirit hits its limit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He amazed doctors three years ago with his return to the rink so quickly after double-hip replacement surgery.
Five months, to be exact.
John William “Jack” Stein II’s post-surgical recovery was so remarkable doctors at Resurgens Orthopedics at St. Joseph’s brought him on board to advise hip surgery patients. To tell how he’d learned to walk - and skate - again.
“I’ve been playing hockey for 44 years,” Stein told me in February 2005. “I wasn’t going to give it up… . I slowly worked up to walking two miles a day, but I’d have tears in my eyes. The pain was brutal.”
I wrote about Stein when he played forward in an ice hockey game to benefit Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. He played on the metro Atlanta police team. The cops lost 7-6 to the firefighters. Stein - a bear of a man at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds - scored two goals.
In recent years, Stein’s health soured. It caused him to retire from his job as a bike patrol officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department. He had been a cop 21 years, three of them in Greenwich, Conn., his hometown.
Last year, he had his feet operated on, but the surgery wasn’t successful. Another surgery was required, something that didn’t sit well with this former narcotics detective. Then, in January, he had a back operation, followed in April by hemorrhoid surgery.
“That one did him in,” Becky Stein, his wife, told me. “It was an excruciatingly hard surgery, and he still wasn’t recovered from it.”
His cheerfulness, needless to say, nose-dived. He was sad because he had to quit police work. Sad because he had to quit skating. Becky Stein said the last time he skated was eight or nine months ago.
“We were just talking the other day, and I said, ‘Jack, you can play hockey again,’ ” she said. ” ‘Just go back to public skating and try to build the muscles back up.’ I knew he was depressed. Well, not depressed. Down is a better word.”
He suffered from insomnia and took to sleeping in the basement. It was darker there, and the morning light didn’t crack through so early. It’s where he retired Friday night.
Saturday morning, Becky Stein woke up first. She tip-toed around their Lawrenceville house so as not to wake Jack. Time passed. The former high school All-American and semi-pro, 51, still hadn’t come upstairs.
So Becky Stein went downstairs. Her husband of 16 years had committed suicide.
On Wednesday, a funeral Mass was held at the Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth. Attendance was huge, what you’d expect for someone who loved police work, pets and playing sports. Local police officers, as well as those from nearby communities, paid their respects alongside family and friends. So did the Badie Tour.
Johan Moeller Jensen of Suwanee couldn’t attend his friend’s funeral because he’s on vacation in Denmark. He used to play forward alongside Jack for a Duluth hockey team.
“Jack was our oldest player, but what he didn’t have in his legs anymore, he had in his understanding of the game,” Jensen wrote in an e-mail. “We would often joke with the younger players that they should look for Jack out on the ice, then just sit back and watch and learn.
“He will be missed.”
Updates:
- Cathryn Bouchard has joined her twin sister. Cathryn died Tuesday around 3 p.m. - the same time that Corynne, 19 months, died on May 4. They are the daughters of Justin and Kristen Bouchard, formerly of Lilburn, but current residents of Frisco, Texas.
The twins suffered from a fatal neurodegenerative disorder - Niemann-Pick Type C disease. I recently wrote about the Bouchards’ campaign to raise $1 million to aid research for a cure. (www.angeltwins.org.).
- Turns out Parkview Team Georgia is not metro Atlanta’s first recreational league team to make it to the Dixie Majors World Series. That would be the 2007 Brookwood team, which plays in Bethesda Park. Sources quoted in Tuesday’s column said otherwise.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By Cindy
July 24, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
Exceptional one Badie, thanks.
By Southern Born
July 24, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this
Prayers for Jack Stein’s family, with gratitude for his years of public service.
It sounds to me like he most certainly was suffering from depression. Suicide is very often the result of untreated depression. It’s tragic that he did not get help.
By Chris
July 24, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this
Jack was one of a kind. I played with him on the Police/Fire Team as well as in rec. league hockey. He was such a dedicated memeber of the Police/Fire team and rarely missed Friday morning practices even though he had to use his vacation time in order to be there.
He always portrayed himself as a gruff, surly guy, but if you knew him, you knew he would do anything to help you out if you needed it. He will be greatly missed by many around the Atlanta-area rinks.
By Chris
July 24, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this
Jack was one of a kind. I played with him on the Police/Fire Team as well as in rec. league hockey. He was such a dedicated memeber of the Police/Fire team and rarely missed Friday morning practices even though he had to use his vacation time in order to be there.
He always portrayed himself as a gruff, surly guy, but if you knew him, you knew he would do anything to help you out if you needed it. He will be greatly missed by many around the Atlanta-area rinks.
By Chuck
July 24, 2008 4:55 PM | Link to this
God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, but he does promise us eternity, - filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.(Tony Snow) Jack, I will forever miss you my friend.
By Chris
July 24, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this
Jack was one of a kind. I played with him on the Police/Fire Team as well as in rec. league hockey. He was such a dedicated memeber of the Police/Fire team and rarely missed Friday morning practices even though he had to use his vacation time in order to be there.
He always portrayed himself as a gruff, surly guy, but if you knew him, you knew he would do anything to help you out if you needed it. He will be greatly missed by many around the Atlanta-area rinks.
By JC
July 24, 2008 5:37 PM | Link to this
Jack was as large as life and will be missed. The quote heard yesterday at his service told it all. “Jack would want us all to make a difference in someone’s life, attend a hockey game, adopt a dog and never miss a party.” Godspeed Jack.
By KIM
July 24, 2008 6:28 PM | Link to this
Rick, thank you for guiding your readers into facing what is really worth it in our lives which are filled with pain, joy, and all in between. You help us face what is really worth our emotions.
To both of the families you mention, your Gwinnett neighbors with you peace.
By chirs
July 24, 2008 11:45 PM | Link to this
Stein was a great man that i too got to meet and play hockey with on the pd/fd team and take many hockey trips with, he will be missed.
By chirs
July 24, 2008 11:47 PM | Link to this
Stein was a great man that i too got to meet and play hockey with on the pd/fd team and take many hockey trips with, he will be missed.
By LT5000
July 25, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
A Badie article without errors isn’t a Badie article.
I think we all remember his Recession claims.
Now here’s another one for Blubbering Badie.
The wife of Frederick Jerome Williams abandoned all claims in the wrongful death lawsuit against Gwinnett County and several deputies involved in the scuffle with Williams, the Sheriff’s department announced late Thursday afternoon.
And here’s a copy of Blubbering Badie’s article on the topic.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DefenseFund/message/129
It’s almost worth the AJC shutting out the Gwinnett section just to get rid of this moron.
However, it’s the AJC’s fault for hiring halfwits, like Badie and Cynthis Tucker, that have driven it’s circulation down so far. They are unreadable.
At least Badie didn’t work in an Obama plug into this article.
LT5000
By Mark
July 25, 2008 1:20 PM | Link to this
Was he black and a bed wetting liberal? If not, then I find it surprising that Badie would write a blog without those two elements.
By KIM
July 26, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this
LT5000 and Mark, enough. Not appropriate.
By Pigskin Life.
July 26, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
Mark and LT5000. Your opinion is important. Einstein said that all observations are valid.
Badie is a man with talent, and wisdom. And he can write.
Then, we read the comments that you two Hemmingways offer and……
Well, I wouldn’t criticize badie, if’n you be gettin’ what I be intimatin’ 2U this day.
But your opinion is important.
By Rob & Dawn Nielson
July 26, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this
As a friend and neighbor of Jack, I want to say he will be greatly missed! He had a personality that couldn’t be ignored. He would do anything for anyone. Since we found your Gentleman Jack, which you didn’t hide very well, shot glasses rose high in the air Wednesday night in honor of a great friend! With tears in my eyes, I say to you, my friend, Rest in Peace! By the way, not a drop is left!
By Rob & Dawn Nielson
July 26, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
As a friend and neighbor of Jack, I want to say he will be greatly missed! He had a personality that couldn’t be ignored. He would do anything for anyone. Since we found your Gentleman Jack, which you didn’t hide very well, shot glasses rose high in the air Wednesday night in honor of a great friend! With tears in my eyes, I say to you, my friend, Rest in Peace! By the way, not a drop is left!
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