"Never shake a girl's hand"

Adam was either a Junior or a Senior and he had a girl come over to the house to study or something. Anyway, I introduced myself and shook her hand. They went upstairs to study. After she left, Adam chastised me for shaking her hand. He seemed to think that was pretty stupid/lame. I was only in 7th Grade or so, so of course I thought "If Adam says it, it must be true." So for a while after that I never shook a girl's hand. I simply stood my distance, and waved when I introduced myself...Adam never told what I was supposed to instead of shaking hands.

Adam Learning Guitar

I remember when Adam was in high school and he was starting to learn guitar. Of course he would put songs on repeat and try to learn them. One song I remember him trying to learn was "Love of My Life" by Cowboy Mouth. I distinctly remember hearing him singing the lyrics "I DON'T MIND" so loud while trying to learn the song. I quickly grew sick of hearing this song and finally he moved onto something else, but he played whatever was next just as much and just as loud.

Only Cindy

The other day I went walking the lakes with a friend and then we went out for dinner. My friend misplaced her car keys somewhere between all this and was fussing at herself for not being more responsible. I made her feel less irresponsible by telling her my last "only Cindy" story as Adam would call it. One morning I took Adam's tahoe to bring Charlie walking around the lakes. It was such a gorgeous day and we had a good time outside. After our walk, we stopped at the bathroom and I had to bring Charlie with me into the bathroom. I placed Adam's keys and my ipod on top of the toilet bowl b/c the floor was disgusting. I flushed the toilet and as I went to scoop everything up the keys dropped into the toilet as it was flushing. I couldn't believe my luck. I think even Charlie was laughing. I called Adam and embarrassingly explained the situation. He was really mad at first b/c his remote was on there as well as other keys to his trailer hitch, etc. When he came to pick me up, I think he finally found the humor in the situation. Well, I know he did b/c any chance he got he would tell his friends "You are never going to believe what Cindy did!" I think he is actually glad it happened b/c he got so much joy out of telling the story over and over again.

You're AMAZING

You're amazing!!! I can't believe what you have done for me this year and your timing has been brilliant. Love you! Keep up the good work.

A YEAR ALREADY?

I can't believe it's been a year, and yet sometimes it feels like forever ago. Hardly a day goes by that something or somebody reminds me of sweet Adam. I watched Good Will Hunting the other night and thought how much he looked like Adam! And had his wonderful smile that was so contagious. Come to think of it, he even had the same "cocky" but cute attitude.

I was in church the other day and chuckled when I remembered what the priest said about the number of celebrants at his service....he was after all "the Adam Puckett". He must have been SOME celebrity in L.C.

Live after 5 has started in BR for the fall. He always loved that. Come to think of it, there wasn't much that he didn't like. He tried his darnedest one time to catch a t-shirt. Then when he did, he gave it to an old man in a wheel chair. He had a soft heart.

I hope everyone continues to write their memories. I love reading them. They bring smiles and tears. I really miss him.

Remember Adam

It's been a year and I can say it hasn't been easy for any of us who knew Adam. We all dearly miss him. Please keep him and Cindy and our family in your prayers. Lastly, Remember Adam today.

Mountain Biking

Sent in by Ken Starkovich

I have been checking the blog frequently over the past year, but I have not been able to bring myself to post anything. I have a picture on the wall in my hallway that was taken on the day of my wedding. This picture is of all the male wedding party standing outside the church, I look at that picture every morning and when I see Adam I remind myself to live this day to the fullest b/c I know if there will not be another day like this one again.
I was in my garage the other day and I saw my mountain bike hanging from the ceiling, I realized that my bike is a something that will always remind me of Adam. When Adam and I were sophomores in college we became roommates and one day we decided to try out mountain bike riding. We had heard of an off road course somewhere in Baton Rouge and after many miles of driving around we discovered the Hooper road mountain bike course. Since both of us were poor college students we did not want to spend any money on a sport that we didn’t know we would enjoy, so we bought (or might I say rented) the cheapest “mountain bikes” that Wal-Mart had to offer. We had so much fun at Hooper that we both spent well over $500 buying good mountain bikes so we could actually go out there and have a good time. Adam and I spent many Saturdays and/or Sundays out at Hooper riding bikes and coming close to breaking many bones. I was always at a disadvantage when riding with Adam since he was always much more athletic than me, but I would try my hardest to keep up with him.

Adam was (is) my first cousin by relation, but I always viewed him as a brother. In the last couple of years before he died we would sometimes go a couple of months without talking b/c of our busy lives, but when we would get together is was like we had seen each other yesterday. The last time I saw him we met for lunch at hooters. We had not talked in a couple of weeks and I wanted to hear about his new job at Business First Bank. We caught up on everything in our lives and agreed that since we worked close to each other we would be eating lunch together frequently. Unfortunately, that was the one and only time we got together. I miss you greatly bro and I just hope you saved me a seat on the ride.

Ken

TODAY

Adam and I took a big trip to New York last year in April. My dream was to be on the TODAY show and see all my favorite journalists Matt, Al, and Meredith. It was unusually cold this time in April which did not make it fun standing in line at 5:45 am in the morning in order to get a good spot. Adam did not complain as he knew how important this was to me. We got on TV a few times and at about 8 am after my fingers had frozen and I could no longer hold up my sign we ran back to the hotel. We were so cold that we got in bed with all our clothes on including our coat and scarf. It was so funny! On New Year's Eve '07, I got up and was eating my breakfast watching the TODAY show. They were doing a year review piece of funny moments on the show. They happened to replay a clip in which Adam and I were in the background. It made my day! I think it was his way of sending me Happy New Year's wishes. Love you! I will never forget that.

"My Way"

Adam took lots of pleasure in annoying me. When I was about 12 years old, Usher had just come out with the album "My Way." I hated the title song "My Way" so much, and he knew this. He went out and bought the single for "My Way." I doubt he actually liked the song that much but bought it just so he could put it on repeat and watch me go crazy while driving me to school in the morning. Oh yeah, and on the single, there were like 3 different mixes of the song so he could annoy me in 3 different ways. What's funny is that I actually ended up liking the song after being subjected to so many repeat listens.

Wanna make a bet?

As most of you know, Adam was a very opinionated person, and thought that he was right about 150% of everything that he said or thought, even when he was growing up. I remember several occasions where we would get into arguments about the most trivial things, such as correct song lyrics, and he would always win because he'd always say "Wanna make a bet?" and then proceed to bet me $50 or whatever amount. I'd always back down because I would second guess myself. I do remember a couple of times that I did bet him and I ended up being right and he would always weasel his way out of it by saying that we didn't shake on it or somehow proving that we were both right. I never thought I'd say this but I really do miss arguing with him.

Wrong Delivery?

I had to make the posts an even fifty, it was at forty-nine so here is a cute story I remembered recently. After Katrina, I had gotten a job at Lane Regional Medical Center and one of the floors I was assigned to was the labor and delivery unit. I needed to brush up on my knowledge of nutrition in this particular area so I ordered two books on nutrition and pregnancy to be delivered to the house. I got a call one day from Adam when he was at home for lunch. He sounded a little nervous and said he opened a package with some books I ordered and was wondering if there was anything I needed to tell him. I busted out laughing and told him the books were strictly for work. My co-worker thought it was pretty hilarious too.

This is a completely different story but related to Adam and my co-worker. Adam played a huge role in helping me plan my only and best office prank. Adam told me about the "Snakes on a Plane" phone call system in which you could type in different things about your friend and have Samuel L. Jackson's voice call anyone's phone to promote the movie. I entered my co-worker's info into the computer about 30 minutes before she arrived and anxiously waited for her to receive the Samuel L. Jackson phone call. When she got it I don't think I had ever laughed so hard! Adam was pretty impressed with my prank but he was the one that gave me the idea.

Adam's Birthday

From: Gisele Puckett

Adam was born the day after Mother’s Day, just as it is falling this year. I always thought that was the most special Mother’s Day for me, because I was full of anticipation awaiting the birth of my second child. We didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl and it really didn’t matter. Since I had to have a C-section, it was scheduled 10 days early, as was the practice for C-sections back then. Adam weighed a whopping 8 lbs and my doctor told me he would have weighed over 9 lbs if he had gone full term. But since he was delivered early, his liver wasn’t quite yet developed fully, and he developed jaundice. They had to keep him in the nursery under the bilirubin light, so they gave him the coolest sunglasses to protect his eyes. I still have the sunglasses in his baby book. They were a strip of thick white fabric with circles to fit over his eyes and Velcro to hold it in place on the back of his head. Even at birth he stood out in the crowd. But the funniest thing was when my grandpa came to visit, he stopped by the nursery before coming to my room. He entered fussing, “Why is my grandson the only baby in that nursery BUCK NAKED and lying with his butt up in the air, wearing a pair of sunglasses?” I laughed so hard, I thought my stitches would pop! Adam also was born with a full head of blond hair, which the nurses promptly brushed into a Mohawk style. It didn’t quite suit him, as you can see in the picture, and he looks like he’s trying to decide how to get back at those nurses. I have a feeling he probably did.

I miss you, Adam, and I will always connect your birthday with Mother’s Day in my mind and heart forever. Because that is how you started out in the world and life in our household was never the same. Happy Birthday, Son. Know that you are loved by many.

Happy Birthday Sweet Adam

We had a birthday cake for everyone at Whitney. Adam always showed up for the party....imagine him missing one!! We had a system that after YOUR birthday you bought the next cake. Well, we all know how thirfty he was. Yes, I've heard the "return" stories!! After sampling many cakes, we asked if he wanted to participate in the tradition. When he found out what the rules were, he was quick to let us know that we didn't have to buy one for him.

I watched Animal Planet yesterday and there was a video of a dog getting a beer out of the frig. I just knew that it was Adam! But the dog was a Lab. He was really proud of his training abilities.

If I had to count the underlines on his birthday card, I'm sure it would take me all day! Adam, I know that you are looking down with that little smirk on your face, so know that we are all smiling back. Miss you lots!

A Night in Tiger Stadium

In the fall of 2003 Adam and friends found a way into Tiger Stadium one weeknight and he decided to bring his camera and film some of the stuff they did. And someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the field goal that he kicked (IN TENNIS SHOES) was 40 or 45 yards. I'm sorry that the sound is a little off. Maybe Cindy has a good version of the video. I'll try and get it from her.



Happy Birthday Adam. I think about you every day and miss you a whole lot.

UnderSCORE

Since Adam and I share the same birthday, it became great competition to count the number of underlines in birthday cards we received from the same person...obviously, whoever had the greater number of underlines had not only the higher score but was also loved more. It's been a tight race. Adam always claimed he won but never let me see his card. I'll never close another birthday card again without counting every underline and laughing. Adam, you'll be proud, this year, I got a whopping 11 with one double-word score! Happy Birthday.

The Hills

After Adam and I got married, he began to realize my addiction to celebrity award shows and events. The last year he was around he said several times "One day I'm going to take you to one of these events. I don't know how but it's going to happen." Back in December of this year after Adam's passing, his cousin Cathy found out about a contest on MTV. Cathy and I are obsessed with this show called "The Hills." Adam actually liked it too. Anyway, for the contest you had to submit a 2 minute video showing why you and your friends are the biggest Hills' fans. Luckily Jonathan came to the rescue with his amazing video making skills. Cathy and I found out about the contest on a Friday and the deadline was Monday. We decided to cast Leslie as Whitney, Avery as Justin Bobby, and Grant as the Pratt in our video. Jonathan and I got the video submitted Monday night around 9 pm right before the midnight deadline. The contest rules stated you had two chances to answer your phone when they called. I had my cell phone glued to me at work. Wednesday at 11 am my phone rang and I saw it was 212 area code which is NYC and where the MTV offices are located. I answered the phone with a very excited hello and was informed that Cathy, Leslie, and I would be going to Hollywood for the MTV Hills Season 3 Red Carpet. I know Adam was just laughing at us as we were getting photos with all the cast members. It is an experience that I will never forget. Thank you for keeping your promise!

The Marathon

I know most people have heard this story but it was such a big moment in Adam's life I had to post it. In college Adam and I would always talk about different goals we had. We both always wanted to run a marathon. I'm kind of impulsive in my decision making and one day in December it just hit me that I had to run a marathon that year. I looked up on the internet for races in April/May within a reasonable distance. I found the Nashville Country Music Marathon in April 2005. I came home and told Adam I was going to start training for it. Adam had surgery from dislocating his shoulder around this time. I could see him start to get nervous. It would drive him crazy if I did this marathon and he didn't. Adam missed about 3 of the 15 weeks of training required and keep in mind he pretty much laid on the couch for about a month. The first big training run was 12 miles. I was really proud of myself because I got through it much easier than I had anticipated. Adam went out to do his 12 mile run on a different day. I told him not to be surprised if he had some trouble but he shrugged that off. He came home from his run and I asked him how it was. He muttered "I only did 7." I had to rub it in his face a little bit. Luckily it took him no time to get in back in running mode and we were ready to go.
At the race we entered in different corals based on our anticipated finish time. This actually worked out to be a good thing because we passed each other a couple of times along the route and gave smiles of encouragement. The last time we passed each other I was at mile 22 and Adam was at mile 25. We stopped briefly to talk and Adam bent over and said his leg was killing him. Just at that moment a 70 something year old man ran past us. Adam quickly ended the conversation because he could never live that down if this man beat him. Adam says he finished before Mr. Davey Day from Rayville, LA but I'm not so sure. When I was finishing the race, Adam and my best friend Ann were waiting at the finish line for me. Adam told me he was so proud when he saw me crossing the finish line and was so happy that I had pushed him to do this. He also said that would be his first and last marathon.
The best part was after the race. We were laughing so hard trying to walk back to the car as our legs began to stiffen up pretty quickly and each step was really painful. Once we got in the car, Adam headed straight to the Taco Bell drive through to get his steak burrito. I will never forget this experience with Adam.

The First Videos

I remember when my dad brought home our first family video camera when I was about 8 years old. Now the video cameras back in 1984 where not like the ones today, oh no, you had to carry around a backback with the actual VCR in it and attach the camera with a cord to it. crazy stuff. so my dad gets it all set up and Adam and I are just teaming with excitement cause we are going to get to see ourselves on TV. there was nothing cooler in 1984 as a kid, than seeing yourself on TV. so my dad starts filming and i am acting a fool trying to think of something to do on camera and enjoying being the center of attention. well adam decides that isnt going to fly cause he was always the center of attention wherever he went. he proceeds to jump in front of me and try and steal the show which i didnt like too much. things got a little dicey so my dad decides to make us go outside and settle our differences like real men, with lightsabers! Adam and I, like most kids in the 80's, were Star Wars fans. i had a plastic replica lightsaber that was probably one of my all time favorite toys and adam had a plastic white sword (aka. lightsaber knock off) that he called a lightsaber. so we both go outside with our lightsabers...now keep in mind, i was almost 8 years old and adam was probably just under 4 years old so i had a considerable advantage (i.e. 4 extra years of learning the force). my dad is video taping this spectacular event as adam and i battle it out in the front yard. i took it easy on my brother but adam didnt believe it taking it easy on anyone. he started swinging wildly with his lightsaber striking me in the leg which was a huge mistake on his part. i proceeded to unleash my full fury and whack him upside the head with my jedi weapon. he started to cry, which to this day i think he was faking it since that seemed to be something he mastered early in life. my dad got mad at me for unleashing my aggression on my younger sibling and nothing i could say would change his mind. adam miraculously recovered from the head strike as soon as i had been scolded and we were back battling each other again. its a classic video in every sense of the word. those were the good ole days....i miss you bro and think about you every day.

The Horn........

There are so many stories to post about Adam, but I gotta start with the horns.

At work one day he told me he was going to have some train horns put on his Tahoe and he showed me the website. We laughed for a while but I had no idea. Right after he got them we were returning from lunch and were going down Government Street to get back to the office. Right before we crossed the tracks on Government Street, he blew them. I have never seen so many people get nervous about crossing tracks before. That was probably the hardest I had ever laughed in my life until we went riding around one night videotaping people's reactions to the horns.

Adam was the only person I know who would have put something like that on his car for fun, and I'm glad he did. I always knew that a good time would be had when hanging out with Puckett, whether it was riding around blowing the horns or just sitting around shooting the breeze. Adam really was one of a kind and we're all fortunate that we can call ourselves his friends.

The Entertainer from Gisele Puckett

From early on, Adam assumed the role of "entertainer" in the family. He could always make us laugh and I can honestly say I don't remember dull moments whenever Adam was around. Even when I was mad at him, it was hard not to laugh at the faces he could make, trying to avoid getting punished. He loved Halloween and dressing up in characters and always had a plan of what he wanted to be. For the first few Halloweens, he wore Jeremy's hand-me-downs, but that quickly failed to satisfy his need to be something really spectacular. My favorite costume that he had me make was the Joker. He helped pick out the color of the fabric and he chose an orange shirt with a purple jacket. I think he settled for black pants and of course we had to find a child size felt hat to complete the ensemble. I don't remember who painted his face in white with the red smile plastered across it, but it was perfect. Can you think of anyone else with a better smirk for the Joker than Adam? Not me!

When the boys were in elementary school, St. Margaret School had a lip sync contest and I think Adam entered it just about every year. If I remember right, he also won every year. His first year (kindergarten or 1st grade), he was in a group with his buddies and he played a mean saxophone to a rock and roll song. Another year, he did a solo and slicked his hair back, put on tight jeans and a cool shirt. The song (I believe it was "Do you want to dance?") called for him to do several dances from the 50's, and I did my best to teach him. God knows he didn't get his dance skills from his parents, as we are both mediocre in that area. It must have come from his grandmothers, who were stars on the dance floor. Adam rocked the house and had the audience on its feet, clapping. When Jonathan entered school, he wanted to be on the lip sync, too, and Adam was gracious enough to share the stage with his younger brother. They lip synced "Barbara Ann," and it was fantastic. I made a life size doll (Adam couldn't convince Jonathan to be Barbara Ann), and Jonathan settled for being the guitar player. Sure wish I could see the video again, because Adam made Barbara Ann come alive when he danced with her. I still have Barbara Ann, who was returned to us after a stint with Adam's female cousins. Such wonderful memories and so much fun! I don't think I could ever forget the joy he had in entertaining others. That was a big part of what made him Adam.

Trinity Co-worker

This is an email from a Trinity Camp co-worker.

Remember when you sent the email where Adam did those videos after he put that train horn in his truck and then drove around BR scaring the crap out of people? Well, I thought it was so funny (and still do) that I had to show my husband. Since then, he has dreamed of getting a train horn put in one of our vehicles. When Adam died, since my husband didn't know him, I reminded him that Adam was the "train horn guy" and he was genuinely sad that someone with such guts to do something he could only dream about had gone. So in our family, Adam will always be known as the "train horn guy."

Also, when we worked at CSP together, I used to love when Adam and I were scheduled to eat lunch together b/c he was so funny that by the time lunch was over my sides hurt from laughing the entire time.

Soccer Pranks sent in by Todd Hoffpauir

Well, after soccer practice some of the guys on the team used to pull jokes on each other's cars. I started driving before Adam, so I would pick him up and bring him to practice. Adam and I would plan different things to do to some of the members of the team. Our target on one particular day after practice was Jason Barnett. Adam and I made water balloons and had them in my truck to get him after practice. We hit Jason and some of the other team members with a couple of water balloons and then drove off with Jason throwing the balloon that did not break back at us. Well we had a few water balloons left and we still were not done with Jason, so we went to his house to get him when he got home. Jason pulled up to his house and Adam jumped out of my truck and hit Jason with a couple of water balloons. Adam started running back to the truck so we could make our get away and while Adam was running to my truck he tripped a little on the curb and he ran into the corner of the door. His eye was split wide open and he had to go to some dance that weekend. I drove off as fast as I could while Adam had blood coming out of his eye.
I loved playing on the same team as Adam. He was my right fullback and together Jason, Adam, and I made the tallest defense in history. I was the tallest at 5'9". Best right back I have ever played with.

Thanks Todd! I believe Adam told me that it was also Jason that would erase the "P" from Puckett off of his water bottle and replace it with some other letters to spell obscene things.

The Animals

Adam's pets were such a big part of his life so I have to write a little story about each of them. First, I remember Adam telling me how his favorite day at St. Margaret's school was the pet parade day. All the kids would bring their dogs and cats and walk in a little parade outside. Adam of course had to be different so he would bring a snake to freak out all the young girls in his class and especially his teacher.
I think the three main loves in Adam's life though were Freckles, Buddy, and Charlie. Adam was so proud of how fat Freckles was and many of his friends didn't even know her name. They only knew her as fat cat. I am glad that she is keeping him company!
Ahh Buddy! I had the joy of keeping Buddy with Adam for a whole summer. Buddy was attracted to trashcans like a magnet to a fridge. Whenever Adam and I would get home and let Buddy out we would have to put the house in what we termed "lockdown." Any room with a trashcan had to have the door closed. No matter how defiant Buddy was Adam loved him so much. The funniest part about that summer was that Buddy had to get a cone on his head after an infection on his elbow joint. Adam and I would laugh so hard watching Buddy crash into the cabinets, cover the whole food bowl with the cone when he would eat, and push Charlie and me no less around with the force of the cone. We eventually started calling Buddy "Uncle Bud" for his relationship to our Charlie. I think Adam's favorite characteristic of Buddy was his love to cuddle. Buddy would cuddle up on the couch with Adam and lay in the bed like a person with his head on the pillow. When we got our new digital camera, Adam wanted to test it out so our first picture is of me and Buddy in the bed. We were laughing sooo hard when taking the picture because Buddy acted like it was so natural.
Adam and I talked so much in college how we wanted our own dog. The week after we got back from our honeymoon we went to a lady's home in Abbeville and picked out our child. We didn't take her home right away so Adam met up with the breeder in Baton Rouge and brought her home to New Orleans. I couldn't go that day b/c I was working and when I opened the door to the house this black fur ball with a big pink bow came hopping towards me. Adam was so attached to Charlie and told me many times how he couldn't imagine having a better dog than her. Adam trained her very well, even teaching her how to bring beers to him. This became helpful after his knee surgery.
We also had a short addition, our "Little Ole Lucy" as our vet would say. Every morning I was usually the first to get up and the dogs would make their one allowed run into the bedroom to give Adam his morning kisses. Lucy would whine in his face because for a while she couldn't jump on the bed. I am so glad that Adam convinced me we should get a German Shepard because Charlie is so sweet and protective.

"Where's the beer?"

Sent in by Amy Felice

Our cousin Jimmy was kind enough to video tape our wedding reception, and in doing so, tried to have our guests "say something to the bride and groom." Adam, totally unaware of what Jimmy was doing, looks at the camera and says, "hey man, where's the beer?" Unfortunately for Adam, there was no beer!

Christmas party

How could I forget to include the annual Christmas party stories? Our group of friends decided to start our own annual Christmas party in which everyone brings a gift and then we draw numbers and play what most people call the Chinese Christmas game. Adam would get so excited as the time would come near because he got so much joy out of coming up with the most creative gift, hence not always the best gift. One year we went to Target together, and for some reason there was all this Nascar Christmas stuff out. A lightning bolt hit...Adam decided to make a Nascar Christmas gift basket. The basket included a Nascar stocking, Nascar mug with hot chocolate, Milwalkee Ice beer, and tobacco. He made me wrap it up really nice so that hopefully one of the girls would grab it which is exactly what happened. There is a tangent to this story. Unfortunately, our friend who had the Christmas party had their house robbed and all the presents under the tree were taken with the exception of the Nascar Christmas basket. Adam thought this was hilarious. The next year Adam wanted to top his gift but in a different way. Adam wanted to bring the best gift so everyone would fight over it. Adam was ordering some Omaha steaks for his dad so he decided to place an extra order for the party. We bought a styrofoam icechest and put the steaks in there. It was interesting trying to wrap it up b/c we were laughing so hard! Adam got what he wanted, this gift was the most popular at the party. Also at the party, Adam was so sweet and would always do whatever he could to get the gifts that I wanted even if it meant trading out something he wanted.

Adam's email to Father Keith

I recently found an email that Adam had sent Father Keith, the priest who married us. Father Keith wanted us to write some things he could read at our wedding. Here is one thing Adam wrote (I wish everyone had this mentality!):

My main goal when we began going out was to simply make Cindy happy. I quickly found out that when Cindy was happy so was I. After we get married, I want to continue to build on that. If nothing changes after we get married I would be the happiest man alive because there is no way I could even dream of marrying a woman as perfect for me as Cindy is. She completes my life and I don't know where I would be without her. All I know is that my life is so much better with her in it. I would have given up everything just to get a chance to meet somebody like her and it is wonderful to know that we will be together for the rest of our lives. She is everything I could ever imagine wanting in a wife and I thank God every night for bringing her into my life.

To Adam

Adam, when I see you again I know your first question will be 1-10. My answer will forever be a 10.

Dirtbike

As most of you know, Adam had a dirtbike. He wasn't conservative at all with it either.

For example. Before I even knew he had a dirtbike, I was coming to Baton Rouge for something. I'm driving down Burbank toward our townhouse and I see this guy on the side of the rode on a dirtbike, going way too fast and jumping the hills in the grass. As I pull into the subdivision, I notice the guy follow me all the way to the townhouse, and sure enough, it was Adam.

Here is a video I found that Adam had sent me of him on the dirtbike.

Jet ski

The first big "toy" that Adam purchased for himself was a Yamaha jetski. I remember when he came home from taking it out for the first time he had to clean it off. We had just gotten married so we had all these new, nice bath towels. I walked outside and Adam was drying the jetski off with our brand new bath towels. It didn't even cross his mind that he shouldn't do that. He just looked at me with this "What did I do wrong?" face. I think he pulled it with the boat once too when all off the old towels were dirty! I forgive you. Love you so much!

Guilty

I was making the bed today and remembered why Adam used to make the bed. Anytime Adam was in trouble with me, he knew if I came home and our bedroom was clean and the bed was made it would put a smile on my face and get him out of trouble. He would always have this proud look on his face when I came home. It was so cute!

Loose Screw

After Adam had his knee surgery, the doctor recommended us getting a bath bench for Adam to sit on in the tub so his leg that was operated on would not get wet. I finally found one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and had the onerous task of putting that damn thing together. It had about a million screws and I did my best to follow the directions precisely. I had the whole bench put together but for some reason the middle screw just wouldn't tighten. It stayed in place so I figured that was good enough. So our first time using it, Adam sat down on it and halfway through his bath we hear a loud "ding." The middle screw fell out and Adam just gave me this look like "Why the hell did I let you put this together?" We both laughed about it in the end. I miss you and love you Adam!

Pranks

I just thought of this running prank or joke that Adam and I used to pull. I guess this was when I was about 9 or 10 and he was 13. My parents would always ask us if it was clear behind the car when backing up. For some reason we said "yeah, there's just an old lady in a wheelchair" and I think my parents believed us the first few times, but they caught on eventually. So from that point on, anytime somebody would ask us that question, we'd always say that, even recently. I caught myself saying it the other day and remembered how it all started.

I guess it's a good thing there never was an old lady in a wheelchair behind the car...

Big Smile!!

I just heard a big truck toot his horn......I figured it was Adam telling Whitney hello and not to forget about him. Like we ever will. The sound of a train horn never sounded so sweet.

PLAYSTATION – GAME DAY 98

Sent in by Jason Garcille

I can’t remember exactly when it was, but somewhere around our sophomore year at LSU Adam and I really became great friends. That year, I lived at Bluebonnet Place apartments and Adam lived in the condo just around the corner off Gardere. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time hanging out together. One of our favorite things to do was play Game Day 98, drink beer and eat Zapps. Adam had one team and one team only that we would play with and it was the Cowboy’s. (Jonathon… I’m sure you know where I’m going with this one.) Adam would use the “punt block” formation while playing defense on every play, which basically shut down most every play I could throw at him. Needless to say, I would get so angry because I hated to lose (which I always did), and Adam did a good job rubbing it in… over and over again. I don’t know why I kept playing him, maybe the hope that I would one day figure it out, but I never did.

Memories

Sent in by Suzette D'Amico

Where do you begin with memories of “Puckett”? I have so many to have known him for such a short time. He was the only ray of sunshine that Katrina brought to us at “the Whitney”. We put him in a back office, but of course he didn’t stay there. It wasn’t long before he had wormed his way into our hearts like I’ve heard he did all of his life. And how thankful we were that he did!

All you had to do was mention something that you were thinking about buying and before you knew it, he told you where to go , what to buy and how much to pay for it. Oh, and if there was a coupon you could use.

He knew no age barrier. He made you feel special when you were around him. And of course, he made me laugh!!!! He’d come back from lunch at home with Cindy and sit at my desk and talk about his new ventures. I always wondered why he went home everyday for lunch. And then I met Cindy. He was crazy about her.

Adam was always in to something. He was so proud of his CD’s that he was making for the Episcopal Soccer team and wanted me to see them. His mind was racing when he told me what he was going to do for the next season, smiling the whole time he was talking. He was so full of life.

One time he came back from lunch and begged me to go out to the parking lot to see his new toy. He had gotten rid of his jet ski and bought a beautiful red “crotch-rocket”. Of course I didn’t know what that term meant and he got a kick out of that. Another time, he had something else to show me. This time it was a new little puppy in the back of the Tahoe. How he loved his dogs. And only Puckett would teach him how to fetch a beer.

We went to Happy’s a few times and I found out how “thrifty” he was. He wasn’t fond of paying $6 for a beer. So he found out that he could get a PBR for $2. I didn’t know that they even made that any more!

We had a Christmas lunch and he got Cindy to make her delicious cake squares. I was out of the office that day. He was quick to let me know that they had forgotten to tell him when lunch was served, but ate Cindy’s dessert anyway. He was crushed. From then on, I had to make sure that he wasn’t left out of anything. He hated to miss anything.

He’d call when he was at home with his banged up knee and was bored. He’d talk to anyone who he could get on the phone. He’d go down the list. What storied he had to tell!! I don’t know if he saw all of the movies on his list. I hope so.

One day we decided that we were going to go to lunch even if there were flash flood warnings. We let him drive…..OMG!!! We were floating down Government Street. He was having a ball. I can still hear him laughing at us for panicking when water was up to the door. Always living on the edge.

It’s amazing that water brought him into my life and water took him from me. I’m sure that there’s some symbolism in that. Maybe it was because of his love of the water. I don’t know, but I will always remember him and his smile and how his eyes seemed to laugh when he did.

Adam, I miss you.

Suzette

The Big Flirt

Sent in by Christal Colby

Wow, where do you start with the many stories of Adam Puckett?

I work in the IT Department at Whitney, so I guess I became Adam’s “personal tech support”. Adam was having issues with his laptop or something, so Calvin Mosbey gave my name to Adam to contact me for assistance. Of course like with every company we have a system to contact Help Desk, but since he was Calvin’s buddy… I had to help him. While I am connected to his laptop trying to fix his issue he starts talking and telling stories. We all know how this boy LOVED to talk. Lol We immediately became friends and had so much in common. I introduced him to several of my friends/coworkers, so he started going out with us. My friends would tell him he was the male version of me. I guess that boiled down to having fun, talking to anyone, and of course being a big flirt.

This brings me to my story of Adam the Flirt... We would go to Legends (a bar in Metairie) with a group of our friends/coworkers. Adam used to flirt with this lady named Ruby who hangs out in Legends every Thursday night. She would just light up when he walked in the door. He would compliment her and just make her feel so good. He always tried to get her out on the dance floor. She just LOVED all the attention he gave her. Now, let me describe Mrs. Ruby…she is about 5’2”, black beehive hair, she wears gaudy jewelry with skin tight leopard pants, wears makeup like Meme off of Drew Carey Show… oh and before I forget….Mrs. Ruby is 84 years old. Too Funny!

The Ultimate Base Stealer

Sent in by Jeremy Puckett

Many of you are familiar with Adam’s accomplishments in Soccer, Water sports, basketball, and the many other sports he played. One that is seldom talked about is his success in baseball. I can remember going to his games and watching him do things that other kids on the team just couldn’t physically do. Adam wasn’t the greatest hitter in the game, but he was exceptional at getting on base. He was quite a bit smaller at that stage in his life than most of the other kids but that worked to his advantage in many ways. The speed he developed playing soccer took a lot of coaches and players by surprise when he started playing baseball. More than half of the time when he got up to bat, he tried to draw a walk or would bunt just so he could embarrass the other team by stealing bases. His speed at that age greatly outweighed a 12 to 14 year old’s reaction time when they would try to throw him out. I can remember multiple times that Adam would purposely lead off of a base too much so he would draw the pitcher to throw to the baseman and have them either try to run him down or to throw him out. Adam would actually ignore his base coaches when they would tell him to hold up on a base and would just keep going because he knew the other team had no way of tagging him out. He even stole home plate on multiple occasions by leading off 3^rd base and out running the person trying to tag him. He made fools out of people on that baseball field and brought an energy to the crowd and game which actually made baseball an exciting sport to watch. Good times.

Domination

Sent in by Jeremy Puckett

“Domination”

From day one Adam was a fierce competitor and hated to lose. I truly believe this is what made him so good at everything he did because losing just wasn’t an option. Contrary to popular belief, there were actually a few things Adam was not good at. Although most of those things seem to escape my mind, there is one thing that rings very clear because it was something I totally dominated him in….Table Tennis! Yes, you heard it right here, it was possible to beat Adam at a sport and not only did I beat him, but I dominated him. This fact was kept very secret for a long time for 2 reasons, he didn’t want anyone to know he was such an aggressive player in a sport considered in some circles to be “dorky”, and he didn’t want people to know that he could be beaten at anything. Those grudge matches in the garage at my parents house sometimes became quite violent to the point where we would try and tattoo each other with the ping pong ball…who said table tennis isn’t a contact sport? One of Adam’s favorite things to do in sports, if he saw himself at a disadvantage, was to somehow alter the rules or find loopholes to increase his chances of winning. Well, he tried that with me and it still didn’t work. Sorry bro, I’m still undefeated.

Trinity Summer and After School Programs

Sent in by Kathie Gregory

I guess I'd say that my real friendship with Adam began in 1999...the summer he worked with me at CSP at Trinity as a counselor. It was a given that Adam was a natural at that job. He was so awesome with kids and they loved him....especially the "bad" ones. Somehow, Adam could always coerce the bad kids to do exactly what he wanted. They'd do anything for him b/c he was the cool one. There are many, many funny stories from that summer from serenades of "Livin' la Vida Loca" to bowling championships to much bathroom humor. Fast forward to the spring of 2000 when Adam and I worked at Trinity again for ASP (After School Program). We worked with two other people...one of which was a trainwreck. We did give her quite a bit of hell that spring, mostly in good fun....she had the most disgusting work ethic I'd ever witnessed...don't know how she didn't lose her job. (My disclaimer - there were no children present...we had to be at work an hour before the kids came so no children witnessed this scene). However, there was one day when Adam had had enough. The trainwreck showed up for work scanitly clad in the clothes she wore to Cowboys the night before, still had the same smeared makeup, wreaking of beer and bars. She had apparently, just woken up and got in her car and came to work. We all had words with her over this, but this went beyond crossing the line as far as Adam was concerned....after all, we did work with children. There was no stopping him. He began questioning her and then he went off. He ripped into her about her horrible work ethic, her lack of self-respect and mostly for her audacious behavior and dress around the kids. Of course, Chad and I were behind the girl cheering Adam on and probably more accurately, fueling his fire. I think he got his point across...it certainly didn't happen again. Probably one of the funniest things I had ever witnessed. Good times.

Zapp's

Sent in by Michael Hankins

My favorite story that I always tell about Adam was a quip he made after overhearing a conversation of mine. I was discussing the ever increasing cost of gasoline with a couple of people and we were debating at what level it would change our driving tendencies and the cars we bought. Everyone in the conversation had come up with their thoughts and plans when Adam walked over and asked what we were talking about. I told him about the conversation and he looked at us with this bemused expression on his face and said, “Gas? I’m more concerned about the price of Zapp’s going up.” He always did love his Zapp’s.

Tone Wop!

Sent in by Beau Gregory

My first memories of Adam are from my elementary school days playing soccer with Jeremy in their backyard. Jeremy and I would have a serious game going and much to our dismay, Adam would somehow find a way to break out of the house in an attempt to get in on it. In the midst our hollering at him to get out of the way, I couldn't help but be impressed by his ability to kick the ball in the air from mid-yard to the fence at that age (he was about three at the time). To this day I still haven't seen a toddler with chest muscles like he had back then. More recently, I could always count on (and enjoyed) hearing about the current deals Adam had going. Whether it was winning all of the talk-about radios from the Surge contest and selling them, the various deals from Conn's and ebay, or former governor Buddy Roemer fetching him a drink of water at his most recent job interview, I could always count on a good story when we would get together. When I took a job in Baton Rouge in Sept. 06, I stayed with Adam and Cindy several times before I bought a house. It was during that time I learned that one of Adam's hobbies was to stay up all hours of the night searching for funny videos on sites like ebaum's world and youtube. Occasionally I still find myself checking out "Chicken noodle soup music video-official version". Tone wop!

Videos of Adam

Chad is hosting some videos that Adam made on his website. There are a couple train horn and wakeboarding videos. Check them out at http://www.starkovich.com/train.html .