Beach Nov 2016

It’s just too much.”
Jonathan looked his friend in the
eye. “You have to, man,” he said. “If
we are old men, telling stories to
our kids and grandkids, we are
going to look back and be grateful
we got to live this long life. You
aren’t going anywhere without me.”
Riley said there was a dark time
during his high school years that
he’s not sure he would have made
it through had it not been for
Jonathan’s relentlessly caring presence.
Unlike most of his other
friends, Riley wasn’t a partier.
Jonathan, with his ebullient conviviality,
was extremely social. Yet
he would make sure he and Riley
also had quiet time together.
“He was the only person I could
talk to about some things,” Riley
said. “At that age, most people, even
friends, are very surface level. We’d
something wrong with you.”
He had a perpetual smile on his
face, a distinctive high-pitched
laugh that his friends loved to
mimic, and an ability to never take
himself too seriously.
“That was one of the things I took
away from Jon the most: his ability
to not care about other people’s
judgement,” Riley said. “That was
the biggest thing. He was goofy,
such a dork, he could be so embarrassing,
but he just wouldn’t care.”
His penchant for helping those
around him rings a bell for friends
of Angela.
“She’s always lived with purpose
and intention, and she’s a great help
to other women, helping them discover
their gifts and live life to the
fullest,” said friend Carol Anderson
Junara. “She’s a great communicator
of love.”
Jonathan and David Bisignano. Photo courtesy the Bisignano family
have these strong, deep, meaningful
conversations….No matter what his
situation was, he was always able to
be positive, always able to give you
his full attention.”
As Jonathan once told Riley, if
one of his buddies was going
through a hard time, then he was,
too. He also had an extremely unusual
characteristic for a teenager:
he didn’t particularly care what
anyone thought of him.
“It’s hard to explain, but there
was no problem with him,” Savar
said. “He never let anything stick to
him, or define him, or ruin his day.
That was something that left a mark
on me, in so many ways. He was
like a pillar. If somebody was angry,
he’d be like, ‘Screw it. Let that guy
be angry. You can be better than
that. Let’s skate, go bomb the hill,
go get a milkshake.’ Always that
positive influence.”
“He was just such a good guy, no
bullshit, so straightforward. If you
didn’t like Jon, there was probably
On Mother’s Day this year, three
weeks after Jonathan’s passing, another
of his friends left a note for
Angela. Handwritten, on pink stationery,
the writer shared with Angela
that his relationship with his
own mother had gotten better “just
by hearing Jon talk about your relationship
with him.”
“It’s so rare for a mother to be so
close to their children, and the example
Jon’s shown has made me
strive to be a better son,” he wrote.
“You’ve raised him to be someone
I’ve trusted more than anyone else
in my life….Although you are not
my own mother, I appreciate you as
if you were because of the impact
you’ve had on my life through Jon.”
Love life
It was Tuesday night, March 12,
2014, in the dormitories at USC.
Freshman Casey Tamkin was
Jon cont. on page 34
November 10, 2016 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 33