I lost my dad, as the executor of his estate the date 06/23/2008 is forever etched in my brain. He lost his battle with brain cancer but fought it on his terms. Even though communicating was difficult for him in his final days he was always the smartest man in the room. One doctor (that he didn't much care for) labelled him as unresponsive and was quite shocked when his neurologist made notes of a very coherent conversation with him.On the morning he was to begin hospice care in the nursing home he simply moved on to whatever happens next. No one told him his care plan had changed but somehow he knew and the prospect apparently didn't interest him.
He was a biology professor (PhD) and did a fair bit of radiation research and even a bit of research on toxins such as lead. He was a bit of a pioneer in radiation research and as happens with emerging technology he had a few accidents and those likely contributed to his death, even though most were many years ago. Many of the radiation safety measures in use today in research and medical fields can be traced back to his work and the work of his colleagues. One clue; I was born in Oak Ridge, TN over 55 years ago.
He was also a simple country boy and some folks mistook his simple ways to indicate a simple mind. They were wrong, and he seldom bothered to correct them. His college education (freshman to PhD graduate) consisted of about six years and he generally supported himself with at least two part-time jobs. One of those was with the Navy, he was a Corpsman assigned to patch up Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. Oddest thing, those Marines never taught him to shoot. Perhaps they tried, I never had much luck with him either.But give that man a pool cue....
He was active in his church for as long as I can remember. If a Sunday School teacher couldn't make it he was happy to fill in. If someone was being especially fussy in the nursery he was there to lend a hand, truly a gentle giant of a man. He was active in the lay ministry in his last church, his Bible is book-marked with passages he used in his ministry, often with notes of what was on his mind at the time.
Yes, I miss my dad. I miss being able to call him and bounce ideas off him. He was also an awesome partner for road trips; he could drive cross-country well into his seventies and had more endurance and better attentiveness than I on our last road trip in 2007.
He wasn't much of a shooter but when he was in high school he bought a Mossberg bolt-action 20ga to hunt Nebraska pheasant. When I decided to take up bird hunting (in Texas) he thought it was silly to hunt dove with a 12ga, not enough meat on a dove to bother with in his opinion. In his memory I bought a 20ga Citori a few years back, maybe someday I'll shoot a dove or even a pheasant with it.
I think he'd be proud.
|
   
   
|
|
Reply With Quote
