Our Saddest Mother's Day: A Time of Dual Loss For Cowboys Prescott
FRISCO - This is my first Mother's Day without my mom, Meg Fisher, who passed away at age 80 on February 15. I'm trying to "celebrate'' the day as best I can, with lovely and funny memories of my "Everybody's Mom,'' many of which I wrote about here.
I think I can work on the assumption that Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott is attempting to do the same thing ... only his "celebration of life'' is surely doubly traumatic, because May 10, 2020 isn't just Mother's Day in the Prescott family.
It also marks the birthday of Dak's brother Jace Prescott, who passed away on April 23 ... just a couple of weeks shy of what would have been Jace's 32nd birthday.
"It is with great sadness and support that we share the news of the passing of Jace Prescott,'' the Dallas Cowboys said in a late-Thursday night statement on the day of the NFL Draft. "The loss of Tad and Dak’s brother is devastating. At this incredibly difficult time, the Prescott family asks only for prayers and respect for their privacy.''
Privacy is merited. At the same time, those who knew Jace him have been sharing their stories of the man nicknamed "Moose.''
"He was a great kid who dominated games," Prescott's high school football coach, Rodney Guin told The Shreveport Times."He was a pleasure to coach - as were all the Prescott boys."
Said a former schoolteacher, Jamie Gressett, "(Jace) was always a sweet, quiet guy who was like a big teddy bear.''
Jace was one of three brothers, along with the oldest, Tad, who grew up in a close-knit family made closer by their love of sports and their love of their late mother, Peggy, who passed away in 2013 after battling colon cancer. Her sons, inspired, tried to press on, in what I assume is the same manner my Mom's brood of six tries.
Dak, as quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, one of the pinnacle positions in all of sports, is very much in the spotlight - a spotlight he handles beautifully. He's always made it a point to term his success in life a tribute to his mother, as the six of us have with Mom.
The Fisher family - I'm the oldest of five boys and a girl - have our particular camaraderie and playfulness, as the Prescott boys did, all of theirs put on display in a Campbell's Soup commercial that Dak always jokes made "stars'' of his brothers.
The physical sharing of our bond is on hold, our plans to stage a "Celebration of Life'' for my mom on the weekend of June 13 in Colorado all trashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So we find another way ... to laugh, to cry, to mourn, to celebrate ... as I pray the Prescott family is able to somehow do today as well.
