Eren Gunes Avci

Our angel, Eren Gunes Avci, has left us abruptly and unexpectedly. He was on this planet for a mere 7-1/2 years and yet he touched all our lives deeply and eternally. He was our bright shining star. Wherever he went he brought with him light and joy. His departure was so sudden that it is both incomprehensible and unbearable. The only way our hearts can absorb this immense loss is by honoring his brief but memorable life so that we can pay tribute to this truly exceptional little angel, making him part of our lives forever. Eren was an artist, a storyteller, and a science fiction creator. He was a talker, a philosopher and, most of all, he was an imaginative and fearless inventor. And what an inventor he was! When presented with seemingly unrelated objects, he always put them together into a game which somehow made sense. He would ask “what would you do if it rained buckets of tea?” or “how big is infinity?” He was fascinated with infinity, and he had an endless capacity to learn new things. He loved playing computer games. He always fought for extra minutes to continue playing. He wanted to know all there is about stars, planets, insects, bacteria, mad cow disease and Ebola virus; whatever people were talking about, he would ask questions. He would spend hours investigating a selected location in a yard, finding a whole universe most of us would not even notice. Eren had an insatiable appetite for learning new things. Alas, he is no longer with us. It is impossible to comprehend this loss, and we are not even trying. Instead, we are choosing to remember the unforgettable and unique joys he gave us during his brief life on this earth. We will love you forever, Güne. You will always stay in our hearts, and the memory of your smiling, inquisitive face will brighten our days. No words can express the sorrow and grief we feel right now, nor is it possible to express the love we have for you. Eren is survived by his mother Leyla Efil Avci, his grandparents Recep and Lois Avci, his aunt Derya Esin Avci, and his favorite mentor Joe Donovan. So many others have shown interest in being included in the list of survivors. This is not surprising: The people who met him even once fell in love with him; that is the kind of child he was. The list would dominate the main message here; hence we opt to condense it. He was also survived by his grandmother Terri Hawley, his auntie Necla Sarikaya, his favorite science mentors Iwona Beech and Jan Sunner, Haluk Beyenal, his teachers and his friends at Longfellow School, his play buddies Zeke, Elin, Charles and Emma and their parents, his relatives in the Chicago area and in the Edirne region of Turkey, his other mentors scattered throughout the world: Turkey, Sweden, the UK and Poland. The list goes on.