One Story of Uncle Zeke How stories of Uncle Zeke influence people's lives
Dedicated to the memory of Zeke Lepinskie 1980 -2001
When my wife Rita and I were about to have our first child, we began talking about the boys and girls names that we liked. At that time, Matthew was a very popular choice out of several we considered.
One evening, as we talked about the different names, Rita shared one with me that I would never have thought of, Zeke. She explained to me the story of Uncle Zeke from the Dick & Jane series, and how much she thought he was such a wonderful man, always willing to help others with their various projects.
Rita's father had built two houses, aside from his full time job, both which her family ended up living in. It just so happened, at the time, we were discussing names; we were buying one of the houses that her father built. Rita's Dad was very much like the character, Uncle Zeke. He worked hard, and was always willing to help others.
So here we were, living in a house where our young Zeke would begin his life. When we announced to our families about our choice, we took a lot of "heat" over our chosen name.
At first, I was apprehensive, from time to time, being concerned that such a name might bring this young boy, with such an uncommon name, ridicule at school, and elsewhere. As time went on, the more the name "grew" on me.
Our son grew into a very unique individual with many friends and was always willing to help others.
He became a very young "Uncle Zeke".
To my knowledge, he was never ridiculed. In fact, his peers thought it was a really "cool" name; no one else had a unique name like Zeke.
When he graduated from high school, he was accepted into the University of Central Florida, in Orlando. His sophomore year he decided to take a break, and began working with his uncle at the Orange County Tax Collectors office. Zeke thoroughly enjoyed this venture.
On the morning of July 11th, 2001, we received a phone call from Rita's brother; Zeke had been killed in a head-on collision. Zeke was just three months shy of his twenty-first birthday.
We could not have been more proud of this unique young man, our son, Zeke.
