Summary of events before his Graduation

Sunday morning the 19th, dad had a massive stroke in which blood filled about 1/4 of his brain. My siblings and I drove in a 4 car caravan all day sunday. (It was 5 car caravan, but our transmission blew, so we consolidated. It was a blessing we had the Lewis truck that we could just throw the rest of the luggage in there. Many other blessings attended us which we will recount later.)

We arrived Monday the 20th at 5am. After a one or two hour nap, we spent the day together as a family, laughing, crying, conversing with each other and the doctors. On a scale of 1-10 in severity he was at a 9. He was on a respirator, no breathing on his own, and not able to communicate at all. He was sedated, but could still hear even though he couldn't communicate. If we operated to remove the blood, there would be some recovery, but he would have required 24/7 care for the rest of his life. This was not my dad. He did not want that. We made the decision that he would want. He told my brother just last month (even before the 1st stroke), "if I ever reach the point that I'm not helping people, just let me go."

This morning (the 21st) we gathered around him and Lynette said, "Dad we are all here this morning for your graduation ceremony". Even with all the tubing and respirators, he moved his jaw very visably. He enthusiastically agreed! It was beautiful as we sang our family hymn, said our final goodbyes, kisses, and had a blessing administered to him by LaMont. As we all said 'amen' dad also moved his mouth -- he was also saying 'amen'. We left as the nurse removed the respirator and a few other tubes. When we came back in, he was breathing on his own for about 30 minutes. He has spent the past 2 years getting his body in great shape, and IT was not ready to quit that instant the tubes were removed! He started to snore and we laughed to hear his famous snore. We joked he was taking a "power nap" before his next assignment.

This brief pause was enough time for his mother and many other loved ones to arrive to escort him through the veil. There was a great sense of peace and love. My dad always loved family gatherings, and it certainly was a large one this morning! He slowly and peacefully stopped breathing and graduated from this earthly life at 11:17 am.

Paul S. (son-in-law) has a story that very much relates to this time of death that he will write in a seperate post. We know that God is in control and there is a plan! Paul's story is just another testament to us that dad's passing is not a tragedy, but in the Plan of our great and Eternal Father. Yet another tender mercy of the Lord.