Robert “Buzzy” Sweet was a seemingly healthy, adventurous 13-year-old boy when he passed away suddenly from acute leukemia in January of 1957. His unexpected death left friends and family grappling with grief and a thousand unanswered questions. There were no warning signs, no visible symptoms of illness. Nothing had prepared the boy’s loved ones for this tragic loss. 

“Back then, death wasn’t discussed openly as it is now,” recalls Buzzy’s sister, Sue Van Hook of Cambridge. “We were clearly told not to talk about it, ever.” For over thirty years, Buzzy’s mother and father, two brothers, and two younger sisters carried the heavy burden of repressed grief—until one day, Sue made an unexpected and joyful discovery. 

“While cleaning out my mother’s attic, I found an autobiography assignment that Buzzy had written at age 13, just two weeks before he died,” she recalls. “After finding it, I Xeroxed copies of Buzzy’s handwritten story, made decorative covers, and gave copies to family members at Christmas. We all found it immensely valuable as we continued to heal from the loss of our brother, son, cousin, nephew, and grandson.”

Three years ago, after rereading Buzzy’s story, Sue realized that her brother’s autobiography could offer perspective, inspiration, and healing to other families struggling with the devastating loss of a child. “Buzzy’s story has legs,” Sue says. “When I reread it, I realized that its relevance and importance extended far beyond our own family.” 

Buzzy: My Adventurous Short Life, published in 2022 by Balboa Press, tells the tale of an all too brief but exuberant life filled with curiosity, wonder, love, and laughter. “I was born June 15, 1943, about 12 o’clock,” Buzzy begins. “The hospital was Waterbury Hospital in Conn. My parents had wanted a girl, after 2 boys, but they had to be satisfied with what they got. My mother said that I weighed about 9 lb. 4 oz. My mother must have had a lot of fun totin’ me around with her.”

In an era when kids happily raced outdoors after breakfast, returning home only for meals, Buzzy explored his world voraciously. Pennies left on railroad tracks. Wagons careening downhill, colliding with telephone poles. Summers spent investigating every inch of North Haven Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine, where his maternal grandparents lived.

“Buzzy describes most of the activities we all grew up doing,” Sue Van Hook writes. “Fishing for flounder, cod, and mackerel, clamming, lobstering, berry-picking, gardening, whole days spent beachcombing and exploring the woods and shoreline. It was a life of complete freedom—ideally, what every child should be able to experience. That’s one reason why I’m sharing Buzzy’s story—so children today may vicariously sense what that freedom feels like; so they can learn what their parents and grandparents did for fun before the arrival of technology and screen-based activities.”  

Ever imaginative, Buzzy and his best friend, Andy, made giant slingshots out of old inner tubes and built airplanes, boats, birdhouses, even bunk beds, out of scraps of wood. Buzzy wrote candidly about their sneakier endeavors, too, like throwing water balloons at people they didn’t like or washing the blackboard poorly when punished at school—so they wouldn’t be asked to do it again! Crazy chemistry set experiments, baking adventures gone wrong, chipmunks eating from his hand, playing on school basketball and football teams . . . fascinated by the world around him, Buzzy Sweet truly found delight in everything. 

To illustrate Buzzy’s story, Sue drew colored-pencil drawings in a purposefully childlike manner in an attempt to depict scenes as her brother might have drawn them. “Although, truthfully, that’s the best I could manage,” she adds with a laugh. But the simple illustrations work beautifully, readily transporting the reader from one Buzzy escapade to the next. 

No stranger to adventure herself, Sue Van Hook continues the Sweet tradition of joyful exploration through her work as a naturalist, a mycologist (a branch of biology dealing with fungi), and a Healing Touch practitioner. “During the course of my training in Healing Touch Therapy, my mentor told me that a child’s death carries away some of the dysfunctional pain of family dynamics, bringing family members closer together forever. This is certainly true for our branch of the Sweet family.

“We have an extraordinarily adventurous extended family. My parents had three boys, then eleven years of miscarriage, followed by two girls,” Sue explains. “As a result, we’re a half-generational family with close friendships and adoration between siblings, cousins, nephews, nieces. We all share a deep love for the magic of North Haven Island, and many of us—including my husband and I and our three daughters and their families—return to the island every summer. Our entire extended family gets together every five years. We’re very close. Numbering 48 folks now, from a newborn to the eldest at 83, we support one another daily in life’s simple joys, pleasures and heartaches.”

Sue Van Hook dedicates her brother’s book: “To all the families who have lost children. To my brother Buzzy, who lived fully until he died suddenly. Finding your autobiography has brought immeasurable healing to the family.” She hopes that her brother’s autobiography will inspire children “to find simple pleasures in the small things, like encounters with animals, plants, adverse weather, classmates, recess, marbles, fishing . . . . Adventures can be low-cost or no-cost if you use your imagination and available, discarded materials.” Sue also hopes kids will see that their relationships with others matter greatly. 

“Whether dealing with siblings, parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends, or strangers, honor these connections and treat others accordingly. Make memories that last, celebrate joy every day, keep smiling, and be grateful every day for all that you have. Let Buzzy’s legacy of joyful adventures remind you to laugh it off, to take risks, and to challenge yourself.”

For more information, or to purchase Buzzy: My Adventurous Short Life, contact Sue Van Hook at 518-788-7388 or visit suevanhook.com