Danny Masters Gorklo (7/10/25): Nine years ago today I lost my amazing wonderful son Aaron to a suicide. He had graduated high school and completed basic training in the National Guard and was a few months into serving which he did with great pride. He was a very intelligent, deep thinking young man with what seemed a very bright future. He really embraced his brothers in the Guard and they really seemed to love him too.
Aaron was the most loving and accepting person you can imagine. Always the first to pick up the phone and want to hang out with dad anytime. We enjoyed long walks and deep talks. He amazed me with his knowledge of the military and history.
He was thought to be on the spectrum with Asperger’s which may have made some social interactions a bit more difficult for him. But I’m not sure if that was the case. He had talked about dark thoughts and seemed to struggle within for many years. He would rather cryptically tell me occasionally “Just remember I love you, Dad”.
And on the day that he passed, I was ironically performing for a veterans suicide prevention that my mother had put on..
I was in Denver and he lived in Alabama with his mother and younger brother Jack. It was a day of unparalleled devastation. But I cannot say I was surprised. Lori and I had went out a few months earlier for a precious short time to share with Aaron and Jack — absolutely some of my favorite moments.
But I remembered the last day we were there feeling overwhelmed with a feeling like I would be losing both of them and felt great grief. Of course I couldn’t have known that he would be gone in the following summer, but I did sense it.
Looking back I feel as God was preparing me a little bit. It is very difficult, not to feel guilt and blame when you lose a child to suicide. And it was no different with me. Moving through the grief I learned to deal with it and be grateful for the time I did have with my son. And grateful to have known him and love him.
Seven years later, his younger brother Jack (also living in Alabama) would die of a fentanyl overdose.
I had many conversations with Jack and his struggles with drugs. As my daughter Chantal rightly pointed out, he was so much more than a person with a drug problem. He was also a wonderful, loving, intelligent son, a great sense of humor just starting off in fatherhood with his two young boys. Again, when he passed away two years ago in August, I was devastated but not surprised.
I will be forever grateful for the year that he came out to Denver and I got to spend so much time with him.
Many of you might’ve got to meet him then. I’m so very proud of Jack, too. I love him with all my heart.
So I pray Jack and Aaron are in a better place now together. I never really shared what happened to Aaron and Jack publicly, but I thought it was a good time to illuminate the situation a little bit. My hope is that this story helps those with children or family members, struggling with suicidal tendencies and drugs. Do everything you can to protect your loved ones and cherish every moment with them. I know it has given me a greater love and appreciation for my [remaining] children Sebastian and Chantal , and truly all my family and friends as well. God bless.
(Used with permission of Danny – to let [you] know that you are not alone in your grief over a child’s suicide. ~ Barb)
Photo: Aaron, Danny and Jack