John Meek’s Facebook page chronicles his long struggle with drug abuse, but in mid-June he seemed to be making progress. He described a golf outing with his family in which he drove the ball like a pro and felt all the joy of sobriety.
“Words can't express how thankful I am,” he wrote. “Damn it's another great day to be sober. I could never go back.”
But on Thursday, just over a week after he wrote that post, John Meek and his twin brother Eugene, 25, were found dead in their Lake Villa apartment from what authorities say were accidental drug overdoses.
“They tried very hard,” said their aunt, Janice Harty. “It just was a very difficult battle to win. They just expressed a lot of interest in being happy and healthy. We thought it was going in a very positive direction until last Thursday.”
The Meek twins were born in Spain — their parents were stationed there for the U.S. Navy — but spent most of their lives in the Chicago area, graduating from Warren Township High School in 2006, Harty said.
She said the twins were respectful, caring and loving, and had an exceptionally close bond; one rarely did something without the other. They loved bowling and golf. John Meek, who had dreams of being a chef, attended a culinary school. Eugene had worked as a telephone installer.
They had grappled with drug abuse for about two years, their aunt said. Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd said while an overdose was responsible for the twins’ deaths, toxicology tests to identify the fatal substance won’t yield results for several weeks.
The family will hold a visitation Tuesday from 3 to 9 p.m. at Simkins Funeral Home in Morton Grove. Funeral services will begin at the funeral home at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, with a mass to be held at 10 a.m. at St. John Brebeuf Church in Niles.
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