Reader Report: Brock McCann wanted to do anything but sit still

Brock McCann was an 8-year-old in love with life.

He was always smiling — a big, beaming grin — which brought sunshine to everyone he met. The only time that charismatic smile left his face was when his babysitter was trying to get him down for a nap.

Brock hated going down for a nap!

He loved doing anything active, from jumping on the trampoline and playing football to going on “coyote hunt” expeditions in nearby parks with his buddies and Dad (all armed with Nerf guns) and pouncing on older brother Jack for a piggyback ride through the grocery-store aisles.

He was a gifted athlete, able to do anything with his body. He loved basketball and was a real competitor, even when he was inches shorter than the other kids.

Known as “Brock-oli,” “Brock-a-dile” and “Brock Obama” among family and friends, Brock’s laugh was infectious: somewhere between a cackle and a giggle. And he would throw his head back to fully release that great laugh.

Underneath that star-power personality, Brock was also a cuddler and sensitive soul. He adored animals, though he was more partial to cats. Mittens, the family cat, loved him back, vigilantly keeping an eye on him as he played and sleeping with him at night. Mittens would even walk along with Brock and Jack during Halloween trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

Brock’s hugs were legendary, too. When he hugged you, he really hugged you. You felt him completely give into you as he wrapped his little, but mighty, body around yours.

On weekends, or special days when the family was all together, his parents would ask Brock, “What’s your perfect day, what do you want to do?”

His answer was inevitably, “I just want to be with my family.”

Who needs Disneyland when you have so much love around you, right?

Brock always wanted to hold his father’s hand, no matter what the two of them were doing. And every morning since kindergarten, when his mother took him to school at Newport Heights Elementary, Brock’s parting greeting was never a simple “bye!” It was always, “I love you, Mom! Have a nice day!”

Brock lost his life on May 25 as he was riding his bicycle home from school.

He was the beloved brother of Jack, age 10, and precious son of Bernadette and Murphy McCann.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach.

Donations to support the McCann family may be made to the Brock McCann Fund on GoFundMe: gofundme.com/BrockMcCann.

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IRIS YOKOI, who works in communications at UC Irvine, is a former Daily Pilot city editor.