Charlie Gargiulo, a good friend and the author if the wonderful memoir, Legends of Little Canada, sent an email the other day. He had just heard about the recent passing of fellow author David Daniel (who contributed many pieces to this site).

The loss Charlie felt on learning of Dave’s passing made him recall the song played on the accompanying video, “I’ll hold you in my heart.”

Charlie wrote the song back in December 1994, on the passing of Irv Zola, the chief architect of the American Disabilities Act and a teacher of medical sociology at Brandeis University. This version of the song is performed by Patti Sardella, who was one of Irv’s students. She performed it at his memorial service.

Since then, Charlie has offered the songs to friends to honor the passing of a loved one, including his own family upon the passing of his mother and his son, Charlie Jr. who is on the left in the photo that accompanies the recording (Charlie Sr. is in the center and his Uncle Arthur, a main character in the memoir, is on the right).

Charlie shares the song now in the hope that it might bring comfort to anyone who has experienced a loss, especially on this Memorial Day.

CLICK HERE to listen to the song on YouTube.