The deal on my brother Dick (Richard Joseph, b Dec 8 1944)
is very sad. We were very close until recently, when I can't take his drinking....

There is a lot of family history of drinking "issues" I don't know if it is
Scogin or Farrell or whatever. I'm a recovering alcoholic, been dry a little
over five years. Some of my other brothers and I have talked about their problems,
which were not as bad as mine, but still a cause for concern.

Dick and I, and his wife Janet, used to spend a lot of time drinking beer on
their deck, swaping lies, solving the problems of the world, etc. We did
that from the late 60s on. In 87 or so, they lost their daughter JoAnne,
and both drank (and smoked) more heavily. It was no longer social drinking.
Janet was a classic "enabler" for Dick. She made sure he was sober to work,
got him up, etc. and bought the cases and cases of beer that they drank each week.
Janet died (I think in 95) of liver and lung cancer. Dick went into a tailspin,
climbed into the bottle. I took him a couple of times to rehab and AA sessions,
bailed him out of jail, in and out of hospitals, etc. but he was not willing to
stay dry. He was alive and broke about six months ago
-- he called me to beg for money -- but I can't
keep up contact with him. And either none of the other brothers keep up,
or none will tell me they keep up.

It breaks my heart, he was my best friend. You are not supposed to have favorites
among your brothers, but I did, Dick was mine.

— Pat Farrell, 2001