Janice’s Eulogy for Co-worker's Sudden Death on 12/9/2012

The Most Dedicated & Beloved Employee in Montgomery County 

Eric:

You are the best user I have ever worked with for the past 15 years.

The guru of Montgomery County’s benefit and pension systems as acclaimed by all of us work together, we will miss you dearly.  
     

When you and I developed so many systems – annual insurance rates, deferred compensation conversion from old Hartford to new Hartford and Citistreet, HRB (Human Resource Benefit)…etc, we would sit side by side in your office in front of the computer.  One day, I was verifying your detailed hand-written notes when you quietly placed a paper cup with spilled coffee, one of many funny and weird toys you owned, beside me.  I literally screamed and jumped up from my chair to avoid the mess.  You just stood there enjoying the scene of my embarrassment without saying a word.  
     

This is you, slow utterance of words, dry wit of humors, funny quirky jokes and my fast statements, seriousness of attitude made us a good team, according to the observations from other co-workers.  Sometimes, I would beg and plead you to tell me exactly if it was ‘real’ or ‘not real’ when we were discussing the business matters.  Other co-workers from OHR would laugh at me and said ‘Janice, he is pulling your leg,’ because I was from Department of Technology Services.
    

I can still remember vividly that you told me ‘Yeah, I have a young brother now.’  Because my son is also named Eric and I talked a lot about him to you. He is also a Redskins diehard fan and owns the season ticket.  You would sometimes talk with me about your dog or the plastic dog you used for your office door stopper.   One day, I, as an ardent tennis player, told you that “you look like Todd Martin, a professional tennis player.”  You shot me back that “Yeah, I wish I have his money, so I can leave it to my dog!”  See, what a funny and pleasant co-worker you are!       
  

You have amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience that no one else has.  Your detailed number crunching, however humble; it is a real possession that I appreciate the most.  Because I, as a programmer analyst from DTS must require to be 100% and we would test the system endlessly until I was completely satisfied and you would sign off the task for me with your signature on the work request- that tedious paper MS-1.
   

Eric, Rest in peace, we assure you that we would make your signature programs – Retiree pension paychecks, benefit system a success in ERP even though no one can fill your big shoes.