Good evening gentlemen and fellow Marines.

My name is Lcpl Nicholas Collier and I have the privilege to speak about my friend Lcpl Nicholas Cane Kirven. Friend …….that is an understatement..brother more appropriately is what he is, and what he always will be.

Nick and I came up in the Marine Corps. together from day 1. It wasn’t until we got to the fleet though that our relationship came to be. Nick is one of those people you are immediately attracted to. His personality is larger than life, and emulates from him in this magnetic aura, drawing you closer. He is a person that can always put the fun in a goodtime,….can lift your spirits when you are down, making a bad time good and a good time better. His sense of life is only second to his sense of humor, always with a smile, always with a laugh. A trait undoubtedly coming from the thing he holds closest to him,…..his family.

There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t hear him tell a story of a time spent at JMU with his sister Pride, how crazy his father Rusty is or how loving a home his mother Beth, stepfather Michael, and brother Joseph have, always with an open door and open invitation to anyone.

Nick has touched so many people in so little a time. Made many of us better people, even if only for a brief moment. Personally I have learned much from Nick. How not to squander your time here because even if you live to 150, its still not long enough to accomplish everything you would like to. No day wasted, no day experience unfulfilled no matter how wild. ( W story) He taught me how the real thing of value that you have in life are those people you love. Times spent with them are life’s true treasures. To give is better than to receive. I can’t count the times we would be out on a patrol or mission of some sort, and we could be so miserable for what ever reason and Nick would have some food or toys with him to pass out to the children and he would give these things to them and see there faces light up with a smile. And he would turn to me and say “ You see that’s what really makes it all worth while”.

These last few months we talked a lot. About life, trading advice in situations where one of us was unsure about one thing or another. We talked of how we were going to spend the post deployment leave block, and as far ahead as to what we wanted to do after we both finished our enlistment and moved into that new chapter of life. I will carry those thoughts with me as I walk that path, knowing that in the times to come he is watching over me, and accomplishments I make are not just for myself, but for both of us.

Today we do not mourn the death of a fallen brother, but instead we celebrate the life of a true hero. We celebrate a life lived without limits, without regrets. And we rejoice, for in our happiness is where Nick lives on……..forever.

Amen