John "Roman" Domanski

From Will:

If you read the "comment" that was made for our last post, you will see how Dea and I found out. I am truly thankful for Jo. Otherwise we likely would not have found out for a couple of days. Yesterday I was numb. It finally started to sink in this morning. A little. A large part of me still thinks it isn't true.

It doesn't help one bit that in my old age I've gotten soft. I would rather be "Strong" and "Stoic". Not sitting here looking at my computer screen through the distorting effects of my tears. If you read this blog often and it's comments, John is all over it and has been since the beginning. The last thing he said to me was a "comment" he made just a couple of days ago to compliment me on my prose. Nice timing John. You always did have great timing.

John actually introduced me to Deanna over 20 years ago and was a large part of our wedding ceremony and the reception afterwards. I'd known him for years before that (ironically so had Dea-we just hadn't met). I'd met him when he was my Program Director for the then top-rated WMNX where he was also the talent for a top-rated morning show that had the reputation for listeners that absolutely hated him or were totally devoted to him. There was no middle ground.

He made a lot friends that way. People who really didn't like him until they met him; then got to know him. After that, you became completely loyal friends. At least it was that way for both Dea and I. We compared notes. The first thing she ever said to him was to give him a "raspberry"; I don't mean the fruit.

She's as devastated as I am.

Dea and I moved to Wisconsin 16 years ago. John and I hadn't worked together for 7 years before that. He was always confident that we would work together again. You know after all these years, I still had hope. I am so sorry that isn't going to happen now.

My grief makes the air seem thick.

Last year we made a special detour on our vacation to spend a couple hours with him over lunch. I am so glad we made the effort and ashamed that we didn't do that more than once. As I said, we hadn't seen each other in years and it was like I had just had breakfast with him that morning. We fell right back into the old camaraderie. It was easy. Even though we both had changed a great deal in all those years, our friendship was still exactly the same.

A friendship that wasn't based on thinking the same way about politics or religion or even Radio Programming. It was based simply on caring about the other persons happiness and knowing without a doubt nothing will change that.



My mourning is purely selfish. I mourn for all the possibilities that won't be. For having to continue on with one less person who'll be happy to hear from me. One less voice to make me smile.

John Roman Domanski
Loyal and true friend.