Saturday Special: Greg Naccarato 1966-2023
A champion for disabled people in his community, he also developed a widely-used real estate tool.
How many times have you gone to a real estate website and clicked on the interactive map to see various listings? It's a useful tool, isn't it? Great fun for lookiloos, too. But who came up with this popular feature that is now widely used?
A year ago today on the eve of his 57th birthday, my nephew, Greg, died after spending most of his life in a wheel chair. His mother, Becky, told me he had wanted to die as he lay in his hospital bed after a rock climbing accident took away the use of all but his arms and neck. A pincher grip allowed some use of his hands. Everything else was lost. As he lay there, contemplating the meager aspect of his future, he sometimes pretended to be asleep to avoid Becky's presence. At least, that's what she told me. 'He was pretending to sleep,' shutting her out. It hurt her deeply as she had her own grief to endure.
At the time, they lived together in a small two-bedroom apartment. Theirs was a playful relationship with lots of teasing. After this tragedy, she would no longer come home from her office job to his youthful energy and wit. He could no longer ride his bicycle the miles-long journey to the university or experiment with mechanical and electric projects. His favorite birthday gift as an adolescent had been an electrical "busy board" that he could use to create anything he wanted, including a remote doorbell ringer.
He loved to work with his hands, so even the use of his thumb and a finger gave him a bit of facility. I remember watching him with amusement when he ordered a bagel with lox, cream cheese, and capers during a family outing. He picked up each caper and placed it just so on the bagel. If they rolled away, he would merely resituate them. It was like a game. Greg was not going to let that accident spoil his fun. He obviously got a great deal of gratification from literally playing with his food.
After a year in the hospital and rehab, he went to work in his father's real estate office. Completing his studies in geography and computer programming at the U. of Utah, he combined this training with the needs of the real estate business. At WFR Multiple Listing Service, he developed the first web accessible MLS platform in Utah back in the 1980s.
This wasn't his only contribution to his community, though. As a director on the Utah Independent Living Center Board, he improved ADA conditions for others like him. He advocated and organized outdoor adventures like camping, river runs, and walk-and-roll marathons. This was his way of sharing his love of nature and the beauty of his home.
I didn't know much about Greg other than what I heard from Becky. When he had his accident, she was surprised as family and friends rose to help supply a wheel chair, van, and adaptations for his own apartment. It seemed people came to his aid in various ways to boost his morale and teach him that he still had a life to live and ways to give. Even wheeling around the university during snowy weather, students would assist him over the obstacles. Slowly, despite the literal hard landing, Greg launched into adult life with new-found vigor and confidence.
My favorite story told at his Celebration of Life was when Greg attended his first Grateful Dead concert. Once wheeled into place at the rear of the venue, he suddenly felt his chair rising up. Hundreds of hands surfed his chair over the crowd and set him down in front of the stage. It was a pivotal moment for Greg and his family and influenced his personal beliefs as well as he musical tastes from then on. There would always be helpers; so it was only natural that he learned there were ways he could help others as well.
In one last act to give rather than take, he opted for a natural burial in a new cemetery marked with shade trees rather than gravestones. His favorite god's eye hangs from a branch over his final resting place. Greg, I can almost see you and Jerry Garcia enjoying your freedom with some really good weed.
Alas, the Heart of Leo
Regulus shone bright
Until Greg spoke his last word
Then both disappeared.
His shrouded body
naked upon the grave's rack
stirred my weary heart.
Oh Sue, I'm so sorry for your loss. Greg sounded like a fabulous guy. That Grateful Dead concert story - AWESOME!
I have two friends who are both wheelchair bound, kind of. I met the first when we were Jeeping Idaho’s Owyhee mountains. We eating lunch before rock crawling up a steep, boulder strewn dry creek bed. Two guys road up on at a to watch us and I started to chat with one. After a few minutes, he mentioned that he was a paraplegic, so I said, “ya, and I’m Jerry Garcia.” He chuckled and said “no, really!”
So I started asking him questions. How often did he ride? Every chance he gets. Did he ever go by himself? If no one else was available to go with him. Did he ever get in trouble by himself? One, he said, he rolled it on its side and although he wasn’t injured, he spent the night before he was found. “It would be way better to kick off out here than to do it in a hospital tied to tubes.
My other friend is also a paraplegic and rides his ORV for hundreds of miles in the Nevada sand dunes and Idaho mountains.
Both have the attitude that they are not disabled, they are inconvenienced.
It sounds like your friend lived the same way. It’s tough to know whether to be sad for the loss or grateful for his friendship.