Jeffrey Michael Dehlin

Jeff was the kind of person who helped people and told no one. His dark humor got everyone involved. Jeff was the center of the room without trying. People were drawn to him. He loved adventure and learning new tricks, yo-yo, skateboard, bike. Love.

One young man came up to me at Jeff's Memorial. He was a bit overweight, a bad complexion. He told me he was never popular, but when he began working with Jeff, he treated him like his best friend. In turn, all of the other employees began treating him the same. Jeff put his arm around him and he was the first person he brought to the break room. Before long, the other teens were calling and texting this young man. He told me that he had never felt like he belonged, and Jeff gave that to him.

Everything. His face, his laugh, his voice, his humor, his music, his spirituality, his sound advice, his love for his sisters, his generosity, his constant smile, his openness, his vulnerability, his chivalry, his example, his love. He was my only son, and I miss everything about him. He was an angel here on earth for all of us.
I watched him in withdrawal without any medication. He is my HERO. I visited him every possible time, and we all went to every family day and education session. HERO.

Jeff would wish to be remembered as a singer/songwriter. After being shown a few chords, he began playing songs from the radio by ear. The first was "Delilah". All of a sudden he was playing almost any song from the radio. Then he began writing music, then lyrics, then harmony. He was shy at first to sing, but he got over it. He was recording his own voice in harmony, with himself playing acoustic and bass guitar and kick a$$ drums. His final song could be on the radio, never reading music.