Balloon launch celebrates life of friend, husband and father

By Editor | June 8, 2022 |

Friends and family release dozens of balloons on Sunday, May 29 at the home of Chad and Linda Brown in rural Greene County in honor of their friend, A.J. Wiser, who died of a heart attack on May 31, 2021. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)

By Carmen Ensinger

A.J. Wiser was a happy, healthy, robust man of 48 celebrating and living the good life with friends and family in Grafton on May 30, 2021.
No one knew those would be the last moments they would spend with their husband, father and friend. A.J. died at 8 a.m. the following morning of a heart attack.
While many people die suddenly, and at a young age, not everyone leave such a mark that their friends decide to throw a party and balloon launch to celebrate his life on the first anniversary of his death.
Heaven Wiser, A.J.’s wife, thought she was merely meeting friends at the home of Chad and Linda (Choppy) Brown, like they always used to do, for a trip to Grafton to celebrate the life of A.J.
What she was met with was about 20 of A.J.’s friends who had gathered to celebrate the life of A.J. in preparation for a balloon launch.
“I thought we were just coming out here to go to Grafton and spend the day because that was how we had spent A.J.’s last day – down in Grafton,” Wiser said. “Choppy said we would meet here and then head on down to Grafton so when I pulled up and saw all the cars, I felt the tears coming.”
Wiser said she and A.J. had been high school sweethearts.
“We had been together for 32 years,” she said. “I was 14 and he was 15 when we first started going together. Together we had one daughter, Shelby. He was a great man, a great husband and a great father.”
Wiser said they had enjoyed their day in Grafton and were in bed sleeping when A.J. woke her at around 3:30 a.m.
“He said that his arms were numb and I should get him to the hospital,” she said. “I drove him to the hospital where he passed away at around 8 a.m. that morning.”
Wiser was a truck driver and owned his own truck. Friends and family were very important to him.
“He was on the road most of the week but he was home on the weekends,” she said. “Those weekends were spent with friends and family, which were very important to him.”
Kyle Robison, was asked to say a few words about A.J. before the group headed out for the balloon launch.
“I think the coolest thing about A.J. is what you did for a living or who you are didn’t matter to A.J.” he said. “You were just his friend. You could come out and hang with him and you just enjoyed yourself and there was no stress. He kept you laughing.
Robison said A.J. had a way of making you forget about all of your own problems.
“I never really seen A.J. on a bad day and I’m sure you guys probably never did either,” he said. “We all have our own life problems and things that just get in the way of being good people, but when you were around A.J. and this group of people, you just enjoyed yourself.”
Robison said there was just something special about A.J. that will make him live on in the memory of others.
“The thing that made A.J. different than most people is that sometimes when people pass away, they just pass away,” Robison said. “A guy like A.J. passes away, way too early, and because of the way he made you feel and because of the way he talked to you, that is the reason you are here today – because you remember how awesome he was as a human being and I don’t think there are very many people like A.J. He was a very special person and I don’t think there are very many people like A.J.”