Jacob Thomas Guggisberg

Jacob Guggisberg passed away on June 22nd, 2023. He was a complex person defined by no one particular thing. He was an exceptional unicyclist, a funky food fanatic, a dedicated outdoorsman, a skilled ceramicist, an avid juggler and a passionate environmental advocate. He was our brother, our son, our confidant, our shoulder to cry on, our best friend. He was also a recovering addict and suffered from mental illness although it did not define him. He remained true to the morals and qualities that he wanted to be defined by and stand for.

Unfortunately, one's accomplishments bear no significance to the abruptness of death. It shows up before you know it, and suddenly one of the best parts of your world is gone. This pillar of your life, this tower of love. But now he can finally lay down his burdens. And how numerous those burdens were, because Jake couldn't help but try to carry yours as well as his own.

Imagine every difficult moment you or a loved one has been through; every heartbreak, every hurtful comment, every setback, every trial, every issue you've ever cared about, and imagine them as stones on our path. Through each one of these we push forward, we forge ahead. We pick up the stone, we examine it, we eventually put it down, and we leave it behind. However painful or overwhelming, we don't carry them with us forever. Jake didn't see it that way. He would pick up each one of these stones, and hold them to his heart. And, instead of putting them down, he would carry them with him. And he was sneaky... Often he would reach over and silently take one from you when your burden was too heavy.

Each and every last one of them he carried on his back. Along his journey Jake would paint these stones with pencils, spray paint, and markers in order to help make even the hardest moments more bearable for the rest of us. He never complained. He cared infinitely and never understood why we should simply let them go. Jacob was a master visionary and thought on scales that we could never imagine. While he was an introverted and introspective person, if you got him onto a topic he was passionate about, it was nearly impossible to shut him up.

Jake would do exactly what Jake wanted to do. He was terrifying and bold like that. It was simultaneously awesome and infuriating to watch. Like the time he gave away his expensive skis to a complete stranger because he felt he "had completed all the skiing he needed to" and wanted to pay it forward. Or when he decided to walk the one hundred and forty miles home from Burlington. When we arrived to pick him up (Mom having caught word of his plan) we found him ten miles into his trek, with a pep in his step and a smile on his face. That was Jake, never one to back down from a challenge or let societal expectations stand in his way. If others were marching to the beat of the drum, Jake was unicycling to the sound of someone playing a drum set with no practice at all.

There is no doubt that Jake would find this whole obituary thing frivolous. He is probably sitting on a quiet mountain top, fretting over the amount of paper that was used to print this on and is currently preparing a lecture on the environmental consequences for when we see him next. So, for this, we apologize in advance Jake. We know we have a long way to go in order to embody the ideals you held so strongly and practiced daily. A page seems far too short to us, but it's probably much too long to you.

His legacy, this fantastically beautiful boulder that is Jake, while painfully shattered into millions of little stones, is now ours to carry on with us. We will paint these stones with terrific colors and we will show them with zeal because Jake deserves no less than the praise of a titan. Jake, you have finally found your peace. You leave us with more beauty and love than we will ever know. We love you endlessly, ceaselessly, and without condition. You made us so proud. Now it's our turn to make you proud.

There will be a Celebration of Life ceremony held on Friday June 30th, 2023 at the Hastings Memorial Parish House between 4pm and 6pm. It can be found just up the street from the Walpole Unitarian Church. Anyone and everyone is welcome. We would love for you to share a memory of Jake or just come to listen. Please dress casual, or even silly, because that's exactly what Jake would have wanted.

There are few things Jake enjoyed more than helping out family, friends, and strangers. If he touched your life, even simply through his obituary, and you would like to let him know, feel free to drop off a rock you painted at Fletcher Funeral Home, 33 Marlboro St. Keene, NH, there will be a 24-hour accessible drop box available off the side porch facing the parking lot. The family will give it a home in his memorial garden.

We ask that, instead of flowers, people make a donation to the environmental group Monadnock Conservatory (monadnockconservancy.org/donate) in his name, as that is what he would have appreciated.