Xiaoniu 小妞

On April 23, 2006 Trooper Craig Todeschini was killed in a car accident while attempting to apprehend a speeding motorist. His car left the road and struck a tree. This comes after the death of Trooper Andrew Sperr shot while investigating a suspicious vehicle. It’s a real shame. Both had families and children. Both died far too young.

Below is the eulogy given by Trooper Todeschini’s mother. I’ll admit I could never have gotten up in front of a crowd to read this. I can barely read it.

A mom’s tribute to her son

Friday, April 28, 2006

This is the eulogy that Cindy Todeschini gave for her son, Craig Todeschini, Thursday.

My name is Cindy Todeschini, and I’m the mother of the person we are honoring today. Most people who know me, who really know me, are probably wondering how I can be up here and do this. But I need to take just a few minutes of your time so I can go on living with mine.

I first want to thank the Honorable Gov. George Pataki for coming here today and taking time out of your busy schedule to be here. Thank you. It’s an honor to have you. I also would like to thank our bishop, James Moynihan, and Father Paul. You are special because you confirmed Craig at his Confirmation in 1997, and I have a picture of you with him that I would like to give you.

I would also like to thank all the clergy, police agencies, fire departments, EMT units and any other agencies and departments that I might be forgetting for their support and dedication in the community. Thank you to the Solvay, Geddes, Camillus, Onondaga Sheriff’s and Syracuse Police Departments along with 911. You will always have a special place in our hearts. To the New York State Police, what an agency this state can be proud of. Governor and citizens, we have the finest out there. Words can’t express our gratitude for all that you have done for our family during this untimely loss in our lives. Kathy, Joanne, Abe and Aaron, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And to our family and friends that have been with us these past few days, thank you so much for your love and support.

Welcome to all the people here in this beautiful church of the Holy Family. Also welcome to everyone who is outside and all the viewers in TV land.

My husband, Jim – “Tods” as we know him – (and I) sit most Sundays together when he’s not working right over there, to the right of the church. People tend to pick their comfort seats for Mass and so we have taken ownership over there. The reason I’m telling you this is because that is how I’m up here today. I have received this inner strength from God to speak about our son.

Craig had many titles: son; brother to his beautiful sister, Lindsay; husband to his wonderful wife, Kristi; he was a dad to Tyler; grandson; nephew; cousin; friend; volunteer firefighter; trooper. He wore so many different hats, so to say.

Craig had a zest for life, extraordinarily different than the average person. It started as soon as he was born. The first words that I heard the doctor say after he was delivered were, “It’s a boy, and he’s peeing all over us.” At that moment, I started to shake (so) uncontrollably that it was like the earth was exploding. The joy that I felt hearing those words is like no other feeling I felt till 3 years later, and we’ll get into that in a moment.

Craig had a calling in life to help people. I always felt a sense of security being around him because I knew that he would take charge and make things better for me if something bad happened. He would take charge of the situation and do what he had to do. His whole life was filled with adventure. He never would just sit around and watch TV; he had to keep busy doing something. That was his relaxation, being busy.

He loved to earn money. It started out with the lemonade stands at a very early age, then the annual Halloween haunted walks across the street in the field where he would organize the neighborhood friends to dress up and then charge people $1 to walk through. He got to know the older boys in the neighborhood to see where they partied so the next morning he would be outside in the crack of dawn to collect their empty cans. Then as he got older he became a paper boy. And at 15 or 16, he got his first job and that was the beginning of his paid jobs.

And so I’d like to share the next earth-shattering event in our lives, and that was when our daughter was born, Lindsay. That same feeling was felt when she was born; the only difference was “she wasn’t peeing all over everyone.” She had a more calming effect over everyone. For you, Linz, my words of advice is as much as we depended on Craig, we all need to stand on our own two feet in this world and move on. With some help from the one up above, you and everyone out there will move on with our lives and always remember Craig’s legacy. A part of him will be entering our lives soon when Kristi gives birth in a few weeks, and we’ll have that little one to hold onto.

You see, I believe that God has to take somebody large away from us, somebody who’s going to make an impact on a lot of people, so he can get his message out to us that we need to be good towards one another. Obviously, with the turnout of the people here to honor Craig’s passing, each and every one of us has been impacted by this person in some way or another.

God has given me the courage to stand up here and talk about respect. The one thing I want to point out today is that we all need to show respect to one another. If we all would do that, this senseless tragedy would not have happened and we would not be here today honoring Craig. Respecting our parents, teachers, coaches – Tyler, you always respect your baseball coach. My brother, Bob, is a varsity high school basketball coach in Florida, and I’m sure he demands respect from his players.

And where do we learn respect? From our parents, elders, one another. We need to be role models for one another. I am fortunate enough to have my parents here seated in front who instilled that in my sister, Sandra, Bob and I. Gee, I remember when the Geddes police car would come down the street in our quiet neighborhood as a child and that was a big thing. “Wow, the police car just went down the street.” Then when I married my husband, who was a town policeman, I thought I was marrying the king of the world. Little ole me marrying a police officer. But, see, there was a reason and plan for me to marry him, to give birth to Craig, who eventually followed in his footsteps and became the ultimate: New York State Trooper.

And now God has taken him away from us in order for me to stand up here and tell you we need to respect our law enforcement, and tragedies like this could have been prevented. Respect one another and obey the rules. Let’s take Craig’s tragic ending and turn it into a positive for us who are living still on this earth, our temporary home, and learn to respect one another and especially our law enforcement personnel who are out there trying to keep us safe. Just obey the rules, it’s as simple as all that.

And so to you, my son Craig, I salute you for serving your community well and becoming a wellrespected citizen. You’ve made us proud. Give the children the basic tools they need to live in this world, and to me that is respect.

And so my public prayer to God is that you handed us the reins on June 15, 1980, and Tods and I did the best we could do to raise him. And then on March 29, 2004, we passed those reins on to Kristi when they married. And you, Kristi and Tyler, I want to thank you for making our son so happy. And then on April 23, 2006, you took the reins back for reasons I believe to teach us to be good to one another. I know you’ll take good care of him like we did, and thanks for sharing him with us. You shared your gift with us for over 25 years, and now you have your gift back and we have the memories. Oh, God, thanks for Craig’s beautiful smile.

Thank you all.