Editor's note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 9 8 8 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline .

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

In 1977, when Eric Schwartz was 15 years old, his mother took her own life. The loss was unexpected and devastating.

A few days later, Schwartz, his father and his brother took a trip from their small hometown in New York to Florida.

"My dad thought it was the right place to go to get away from any reminder of my mom or anybody that we knew in town, just to kind of regroup and recover and figure out what was next," Schwartz recalled.

When they

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