
What Rory saw when he opened the door. It was a beach theme party, and they gave us a “beach getaway” as a gift.
On February 16, 2015, my husband turned 60. (I am soon to follow, but we won’t go there now.) He is a wonderful man–kind, trustworthy, understanding, able to laugh and to forgive. On the afternoon of his birthday, his partners and employees at his architecture firm (BCRA) threw him a surprise birthday, and was it ever a surprise! Rory was floored–and honored. People passed around the microphone, shared memories of working with Rory and trusting his integrity and good judgment. There are moments in life when you look back and realize that WOW, you
must have done something right in life: this was one of those moments, for him and for me. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GOOD MAN I MARRIED.
For those of you who don’t mind reading a wife’s tribute, below is the text of what I said when it was my turn for the microphone. (But if this is getting too mushy for you, skip this part and just enjoy the photos!)
Rory and I met when we were 17, and we started dating a few months after we met. It didn’t take very long before I strongly suspected that he was the kind of person that I
could love and respect for the rest of my life. We got married when we were 21. I once read that the decision about who to marry is the biggest decision you make that determines your own happiness, and in marrying Rory I did myself a life-long favor. He has been the best husband I could ask for, and also the best father for our sons. Rory and I have been
through a lot in our 38 and a half years of marriage, but I can say that even the hard years have ultimately been good ones, because we faced them together.
One of the things that I think has enabled Rory to be a good leader at BCRA is his ability to face tough things rationally and usually pretty calmly. His way of doing that has also meant everything to our family and given us strength over and over, when we’ve had to go through our own tough times. But Rory loves to rejoice when things go well. He’s a person who never brags about his own successes—I’m not even sure he recognizes his own successes—but he loves it when
the people in his life are successful. There are so many nights when he has come home happy about things that you all (the employees) have done well, and I’m so thankful to you all, that this workplace is a source of happiness for him.
But today I want to say: Rory, you yourself have done well with life, and nobody knows that better than I do.