Who was Zooch?

ZOOCH THE POOCH

Darrell F. Garza was born on March 3, 1970 and lived most of his life in Pueblo and Littleton, Colorado. He was a man, who early in his life, mapped out what he would do and where he would go and worked toward those goals with dedication, passion and humor. You can’t bring up his name among his friends still today without them mentioning some humorous occurrence that they all remember.

On July 15, 1994 Darrell married a beautiful young woman whom he had known and loved since the seventh grade, her name was Heidi. Heidi was an identical twin to Heather who, on September 21, 1991 married Mike Kelley, the co-author of this book. The four of them were inseparable, playing golf, attending sporting events, dining out, travel; you name it and they were together, living life to it’s fullest.

Darrell was well known for giving and getting nicknames. It is in the spirit of this fun habit of his that we lovingly developed the storybook you are now holding. The names of the dogs in Zooch the Pooch are nicknames given to him and several of his friends; in many ways Darrell was Zooch. He was a leader, a motivator, a friend and a person who always wanted everyone in his group to have fun, get along and be included. The way he lived, and the lives he touched, proved to be the inspiration and basis for this children’s book.

At the time of his death due to acute bacterial meningitis in 2003, he and Heidi were expecting the first of what Darrell hoped would be many children. In the months that followed, Heidi completed the home she and Darrell were building and then Heidi, Heather, their mother Jean and Mike all moved in that home when Darian Brooke Garza was born. With the help of their friends and family they are all learning to live and love again.

It is the desire of the authors of this children’s book that parents, guardians, grandparents or any other concerned adults use our book to show the precious child/children in their lives how life can be lived and how even death we learn to place importance on remembering the departed, but also how to gain acceptance to life’s mysteries and live it to our personal best.

As Mike Kelley says to Darrell, “Your memory keeps me laughing. Your absence keeps me crying. Your daughter keeps me going. I miss you everyday.”