Andrew Michael "Andy" Silling

We built rockets that were ever larger and flew higher. Our last rocket was a three stager and disappeared out of sight into the sky never to be found. Andy was quite disappointed.

My father decided to reroof our six bedroom house using split cedar shingles. Andy and I roofed the entire house with him. Then the painter set fire to the house and burned it off, and the insurance roofers put it on wrong. So Andy and I removed all the shingles, put insulation, plywood, tarpaper on, and then once again roofed the house. I will always remember Andy has very hard working and his company made the job so much more pleasant.

I remember fun things Andy and his siblings did as kids:
A big tree fort that lasted for years
Climbing the huge tree by the driveway entrance
Playing chase with the family dogs around the pool
Playing hide and seek with Andy and Marc, who always won because they would hide out on the roof
July 4th large firework rockets
Saturday night pizza
15 foot Xmas tree that we decorated precisely (lights, balls, and lots of tinsel)

Making plays that reflected family conflict, working on the roof installing cedar shingles, riding out bike for two that weighed a ton, the barebravers club he started when we were about eight, summers with the grandparents, playing marbles when we arrived, flying alone at age eight to West Virginia in a DC-3, living in a motel for six months due to our house fire, making rockets of ever more complexity, and talking to him on the phone during his last months.

Andy was born Michael Andrew Silling, but since he went by his middle name, he later legally changed his name to Andrew Michael Silling. I always knew my big brother as "Andy".

Going to Longwood Gardens with my older brother