Lonny J. Stone

Life Is Like a Good Burger
Sometimes, Lonny Stone's family would lie on top of one another to make a hamburger. Lonny, at the bottom, was half the bun.

His sons, Joshua, 9, and Alex, 12, were the meat and the pickle. His wife, Stacey, was the top of the bun, and their dog, Sammy, was the coleslaw.

As for real hamburgers, Mr. Stone stopped eating them and other meat three years ago, when he turned 40.

He started jogging, eating organic foods and thinking about the yin and yang of things.

"In the last year or so, he would always tell me, 'Live for the moment, dear,'" his wife said. "We'd be watching the boys play in the garden and he would say, 'Take a picture of it in your mind.'"

She did, and not just of the boys. "We'd been together so long, but when the dog and I would stand at the door waiting for him to get out of the car, my heart would still skip a beat," she said.

Two years ago, life became even sweeter when Mr. Stone landed a dream job as operations manager at Carr Futures. "He loved going to work," Mrs. Stone said. He even made good use of the commute from Bellmore, N.Y. On Aug. 23, their 15th anniversary, his wife came home to find a two-page letter he had written on the train, full of hearts and smiley faces and loving sentiments.

"Maybe he knew something, 'cause it wasn't like him to write a letter," she said. "That letter was like he was saying goodbye to me."