By Virginia Culver
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/25/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Nick Delmonico turned his blindness into a gift, his family and friends say. He died July 16 at 35. (Special to The Denver Post )
Nick Delmonico, who spent his short life trying to help the underdog, died at his Denver home July 16, two days after his 35th birthday.
Delmonico had suffered from heart problems, but the cause of death hasn't been determined, said his aunt, Janet McNellis-King.
Blind since childhood, Delmonico used the disability to help other people, his family said.
"He just had a heart for helping, and he was always concerned abut the underdog," said his aunt. "He had no boundaries about who he loved — he loved everyone."
Delmonico was a familiar figure in his broad area of work and friendships, his family said. He was 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighed more than 300 pounds, said McNellis-King.
With his booming voice, he greeted even strangers with conversation, and if he heard your voice once, he always remembered it, said his mother, Joan Snider-Joiner of Lakewood.
"He was an amazing and gifted man," she said.
"He defied limitations and made them into gifts," said longtime friend Rutherford Maule of Laguna Beach, Calif.
Because Delmonico couldn't judge people on their looks, "he believed he could see their souls," Maule said. He thought people should have fun with whatever they did, "not wait for things to fall into place and then 'I'll be happy,' " Maule said.
With a degree in speech and communications, Delmonico spoke to teenagers about character and overcoming challenges, helped seniors who were losing their sight adapt and volunteered for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
Delmonico had other causes: He marched annually in the MLK Marade, and he marched with American Indians protesting the Columbus Day parade. In 2008 he was one of 83 protesters arrested for blocking the parade route. He was sentenced to 32 hours of community service, according to a Denver Post story.
He had planned to cut his waist-long ponytail and donate the hair to an organization that makes wigs for people who have lost their hair because of an illness.
His mother plans to donate the hair, McNellis-King said.
Nicholas Ken Delmonico was born in Denver on July 14, 1975, and attended Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs. He graduated from Kennedy High School and earned a degree in speech communications at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
He and one of his sisters, Christine Delmonico of Tucson, shared a genetic disease that blinded them while they were in grade school.
He did motivational speaking, was a substitute schoolteacher and YMCA youth counselor and worked with the Urban Servants Corps and its youth program.
In addition to his mother and sister, he is survived by his father, Kenneth J. Delmonico Jr. of Denver; his stepmother, Rina Delmonico; another sister, Angela Alexander of Lakewood; one brother, Cole Joiner of Denver; and his grandparents, Kenneth and Donna Delmonico Sr. of Denver and Donald and Lois Snider of Phoenix.
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Topic: Honoring a Bro who has gone home........ (Read 535 times)
January 25, 2011, 09:24:27 pm
