From Debbie Benitez

Hello family and friends of JT,

I deeply regret I can not be with you all on this day. I would like to share a memory with you that makes me smile each time I think of it.

While I was a doc student working at the Beach Center, I had the opportunity to sort and distribute the Beach Center mail with JT on many occasions. On one of these days, I held up a piece of mail addressed to me, poised the envelope near my mailbox and prompted JT with, "Debbie..." and then paused -- to which he quickly responded "Burrito." I pointed to my last name on the envelope and said, "Actually, JT, I think that may be Benitez." And he responded "No, Burrito." So then I told him the mail was for me and that I was Debbie Benitez. I could tell I annoyed him because he took the envelope from my hand and dropped it back into the mail bin with all the other unsorted mail. My plan was to be "Debbie Burrito" the next time around, and the envelope made it into my box.

My love to you all,
Debbie