Letter to Joe - 9 year old Catalina Thornburg

From Catalina Thornburg, Age 9:

Go Joe Paterno!!!

Joe pa was a man that changed my life because of the power he put out and im sure he probably moved yours ,too. The day he passed and the day after, my mom had cryed a lot. That made me think (because I don’t follow football) how much he had impacted people. I realized later that even if you lived in Hawaii you might even of heard of him, that”s how fabulous he was. If you were another region of the united states, you might of known of him. He coached for 64 years at penn state. He changed the people that played on his team. He changed the people that went to penn state for college. He changed people that lived on the other side of the world, that never set foot in state college, PA. for the last ½ day of his life, he fought. He fought very hard for his life, and prayers were sent up to him by millions. Then, it was time for him to go home. At around 10:00 on Sunday jan. 2012, I had heard on espn that in the words of scott and jay, dad passed. That brought the tears to eyes. That night before on 2 or 3 news channels they had said he had died. I figured that out in the car ride home from Keri’s house. Then scott paterno, joe’s son tweeted from the hospital, dad is still alive but in serious condition. Please continue to send up your prayers. Then days later after the passing I had driven by the statue of him outside of beaver stadium, with piles of things for the family. I saw little plastic candles around it and I thought that was cool, but on his arm draped over was an American flag and on the other were balloons. For his memorial services tickets were for sale, but were sold in 8 mintes. Joe paterno for me, is in every hall of fame. Only positive was put in joe’s mind, and negative had to leave the party.

“We Are Penn State” is right, but really it won’t be penn state any more without joe paterno there. Im sure bill O’brien will be a great coach, but joe pa will never be replaced, ever. joe, I love you and I know, you’re in Heaven right now.

thanks,
Catalina