From the security guard to the ushers to the front office staff, they'd all heard about DiMarco's tragic loss just four months ago. Her 29-year-old son Garrett, who had been going to games with her for years, died of a brain aneurysm. There were no symptoms and no warnings, just the unimaginable and sudden loss of her son, an Army veteran, who they'd all come to know too.
So the familiar faces with the Devils game day staff, plus the team's new "Memory Makers" made up of part-time guest services employees, presented DiMarco with a black Devils box, and inside it was a custom jersey with Garrett's name on the back and No. 30, for the age he would have turned in a couple of weeks and for his favorite player, Martin Brodeur.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Barbara DiMarco joined the #NJDevils family in 1988. For the first few decades, her brother attended with her. When he passed away, her son, Garrett joined her for every game. This past June, she lost him too. Our #NJDMemory team surprised her on Thursday with a custom jersey... pic.twitter.com/iNjrvxYg3z
"I just cried for the rest of the game," DiMarco said.
DiMarco's brother Robert Yanus became a Devils season ticket holder when the team came to New Jersey and would take DiMarco or his wife Marge. When Marge died in 2011, DiMarco went to all the games. Then Robert moved to South Jersey and the commute to every game became too long, so he transferred the tickets to DiMarco's name and she began taking Garrett.
Garrett had always wanted to be in the service, but DiMarco urged him to get a bachelor's degree first, which he did. And when he came home from the Army where he served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist, he earned his master's degree and went to Devils games with his mother.
"Most sons when they get to that age they don't really want to hang out with their moms but he was my buddy," she said. "He was really good to me."
