| Name at birth: | Michael Edward Hrynko |
| Date of birth: | 15/4/1953 |
| Place of birth: | Chicago, IL United States |
| Date of death: | 4/7/2000 |
| Place of death: | Plymouth, IN United States |
| Resting place: | Cremains in Culver, IN and with family members elsewhere |
| Submitted by: | Jan Getto (mom1alvira@aol.com) |
MICHAEL E. HRYNKO Michael was the second born of Edward and Alvira Hrynko. He had two sisters, Jan and Nancy, and a brother, Don. He struggled through school having above-average intelligence and being well-liked by all his teachers, who questioned why he was “not working up to his potential”. Though he completed four years of college, he never earned a degree because of his refusal to complete the language requirement successfully. In 1979 he married Peggy Gresham. He worked for many years as a computer programmer until the birth of his first son, Jack, in 1989. At that time he resigned his position and spent the next ten years being “Mr. Mom” to Jack and Dan, who was born in 1991. It is wonderful that he spent those years with their sons, as they will have only the many memories of him to last them the rest of their lives. He was a VERY dedicated and loving father, son, brother, husband, uncle and friend. His lifelong struggle with sub- stance abuse was the only thing that got in the way of these relationships. Over four years ago he succeeded in ending the use of one substance, but after the death of our Mama in June of 1998, the other substance, alcohol, maintained a tight grip on him. This January, in his search for answers and in an effort to be a better role model for his sons and a better companion to Peggy, he began working with a therapist and attending AA meetings. His last six months were a mixture of successes and failures in his struggle with alcohol. He was ALWAYS more aware of the failures. In his quest for answers as to why this was such a difficult battle, he went to yet another therapist, finally prepared to face a demon he had lived with since he was eight years old. She diagnosed him as having ADD and believed that he had been self-medicating with alcohol. That happened only ten days before he was killed in an accident. He was just beginning to see the positive effects the medication was having on his life. Michael was very happy to get the ADD diagnosis. He said it made him feel “liberated” and like he “was not crazy” after all. He told me that he was “hesitantly optimistic” that it would be part of the answers he was searching for in an effort to improve his life. It did explain why he had been unable to “work up to his potential” in school. He did NOT have the time to address the problem that had been effecting his life DAILY since its occurrence. Michael had been reading books in an effort to better understand what had happened and in preparation for address- ing the issue in therapy. He had just started down the road to recovery when his time ran out. My brother will be deeply missed by all that knew him. He never was able to feel all the love that surrounded him while he was with us, but I believe he is aware of it now. He and our Mama will help us get through our grief and carry on until we can all be together again. I desperately hope he has found the peace that so cruelly evaded him in life. Michael brought more joy and happiness to those of us who knew him, than he ever realized. Now it is our task to see that his legacy lives on, that his warmth and kindness are spread daily and that his memory is ALWAYS in our hearts. Rest peacefully at last, Dear Brother, and send us all a sign that you are content, with Mama’s hands cupping your face lovingly. I LOVE and MISS you, Michael, and ALWAYS will. Your BIG sister, jan XOXOXOXO :’-(
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