Everyone gathered to listen to stories that spanned Toby's life.
Uncle Rob played the opening to the memorial.
Which began with Jay who told about his first meeting of Toby who had joined his story-telling group to become a more engaging professor.
To Taisie, who spoke about when he really won her over with his homemade dulcimer and wood splitting ax.
To Rachel, who spoke about how Toby is still with her family thru the knowledge he passed down, like how to deal with insomnia: think sleep is just restorative rest.
To Sam, who spoke about how important patterns were to Toby as an educational tool, and how they shaped his life and in turn his children and grandchildren's lives.
To Gwen, who told the story of how Toby made small things special, like holding her hand as they walked to school every morning.
To Maddie, who talked about how Toby was always the first to come and sit patiently for the kids' barn shows.
To his sister, Christina, who talked about Toby and a friend's plan to jump off their apartment rooftop with a homemade parachute made from a sheet. (They ultimately did not).
To Sarah, who read two of her own poems about her time with Toby in Chocorua.
To John, Toby's friend since 7th grade, who talked about creating a shocker out of a spark coil which immediately went on their school's prohibited list.
To Bob, who spoke about how their work together brought attention to Cancer Alley in New Orleans, along with the pleasure of their decades long friendship.
To Julie, who talked about how Toby was able to communicate about the things that were important to him. Even as he lost his ability to form sentences, specific words and gestures carried all the meaning of a paragraph.
The memorial ended in song.
And an evening of reflection.
With friends and food in Toby's favorite place.
