Ryne James Vitek

Ryne James Vitek was born on September 18, 1982.  Ryne is the cherished son of Mary and Larry Vitek; beloved brother of Shana Vitek (Eric Kessel); adored uncle to Olivia and Jackson; nephew, cousin, and treasured friend of many who love him and were blessed to have him in their lives. We will continue to celebrate his life by sharing thoughts, memories, stories, and photos of Ryne in the days, weeks, and years ahead.

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To My Brother Ryne,

You are a part of me, and you always will be. I was blessed to have you as my brother.

We were different, but the same in many ways; we completed the circle of our family, the Yin, and the Yang.

You were strong, but sensitive.

You were stubborn like me.

I admired your artistic and musical side; I can still hear your deep calming voice in my head.

You were wiser than you knew.

You were a perfectionist, always too hard on yourself.

You were spiritual and passionate about all the things that you loved.

You were fiercely protective of me. My little brother.

We shared countless experiences together throughout our lives, and for that I feel lucky.

We laughed together a lot.

We teamed up, we had each other’s backs.

From riding bikes and playing outside for hours, spending holidays together and sharing all our important moments, to traveling across the country, almost getting arrested in Mexico, and living together in Chicago, we did it all and had a blast doing it.

You were sentimental. You took joy in the classics.

Your memory was incredible. I wish I was able to remember things the way that you did. Feel free to remind me of things when you can.

You were unique and one-of-a-kind, even though you didn’t always know this was a good thing.

You wore sunglasses and a leather jacket on a hot summer night and didn’t care what anyone said about it.

You were a collector, a creator, and always continued to learn about things that interested you.

You were brave.

I remember once when we were little and we were both sent to our rooms. I remember us peeking our heads out to talk to each other down the hall. I don’t know why I remember that, but it makes me happy.

You thought I had terrible taste in music and movies. OK, so that one is true. But I loved when we would find a song or movie we both liked and then listen to or watch it over and over again, i.e. CCR Bad Moon Rising that I would always make you play on your guitar, and Batman Forever. Still the best Batman movie in my opinion.

You were a great Uncle and very much loved by your niece and nephew. Also, by the canines of course. The songs you made up run through my head: “Sleep Sack Baby,” sung to the tune of the B52s “Love Shack” and the song about Newman, “Shuman, Attorney at Law.” Those and many more were great.

The kids loved the tradition of going to your house at Christmastime and the incredibly thoughtful gifts you picked out for them. We will miss you, especially at the holidays, but we will keep remembering all the good times we had.

I hope you know how much I love you. I wish I could give you a big bear hug and tell you all these things when we were together.

For now, I will see you in the black birds that soar among the clouds, and in the bumblebee that won’t stop buzzing around me (“It’s my finger and it’s in my space and there’s nothing you can do about it”).

Life is just a flicker in time, no matter how many years we live on this earth. Your candle didn’t burn as long as we wanted, but it burned bright.

I believe our legacy is the energy we put into the world. All of us who love you continue to carry your energy with us, and that energy goes to those we love and so on. The energy we put into the world remains long after we are gone. Your energy, your soul, carries on forever.

Ryne, I have been truly blessed to have you as my brother, the Yang to my Yin.

I will carry you in my heart until we can be together again, in a flicker of time.

I love you so much, always and forever. Love, your sister, Shana Lynn

P.S. Give Newman a hug for me. xoxo