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With each picture of Francis "Joey" Goulart III that popped up on a digital picture frame, there was a story.
A picture of Goulart wearing sunglasses with a hologram of a skull and crossbones on each lens. He bought the sunglasses at the beach and wore them for poker games.
Another of Goulart with a lampshade on his head as he danced in his parents' living room. He put on the improvised hat to liven up a party.
Images like that of the fun-loving young man are how his family said they will remember him.
"That's the part of him we all see," said Goulart's father, Francis Goulart Jr.
Joey Goulart, formerly of York Township, died in a fire at his apartment in Ebensburg on June 19. He was 26.
He had moved to the town,
The academic: Most people who knew Joey Goulart likely remember him as the young man who excelled at academics and went on to graduate magna cum laude from Messiah College in 2008, Francis Goulart said.
From there he went to Penn State Dickinson School of Law, where he was a member of The Woolsack Honor Society, an award for academic excellence and being in the top 15 percent of his class.
He became a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 2011, the same year he graduated from Dickinson.
Being a lawyer came natural to Joey Goulart, said his sister, Elizabeth Sterner.
"He was born a lawyer, and the bar just made it official," she said.
Joey Goulart was a debater from an early age. Francis Goulart once told some friends that if someone told his son that rocks sink, Joey Goulart would argue that they float.
Joey Goulart was quick to argue on behalf of rocks everywhere.
"He said, 'Actually there are some rocks that are so porous that they do float,'" Sterner recalled.
The prankster: But if someone were to have met Joey Goulart outside work, many would not have figured he was a lawyer, his father said.
"He is absolutely the most unlawyerly person until you start talking to him about law," Francis Goulart said.
Joey Goulart had a sarcastic sense of humor and was known as a prankster.
When Joey Goulart's younger brother, Will Goulart, started driving, Joey Goulart and Matt Sterner, Elizabeth Sterner's husband, were riding around in a car that didn't have air conditioning on a hot day.
With Will Goulart behind the wheel, Joey Goulart kept telling him to go faster because the air conditioning didn't come on until he reached 35 mph, Matt Sterner said.
Stories like that were plentiful in the Goulart home as Joey Goulart's close-knit family and friends mourn his death and celebrate his life.
"I lost one of my four best friends and a son in one day," Francis Goulart said.
- Reach Greg Gross at ggross@yorkdispatch.com.
