Death of Father-in-law

Well, I won't need to worry about going to Rochester tomorrow. My sister-in-law phoned early this evening to say that things were going downhill fast. Father-in-law had been growing weaker all afternoon, and the doctors felt he must be bleeding internally somewhere. That heparin he had been receiving by IV the last few days probably hastened the final outcome. He passed away a little after 9 p.m., peacefully, quietly, with no pain, so that is a blessing. Believe it or not, today was his birthday! Quite an amazing feat-----to die on your birthday! He had said so many times that he wanted to die in his sleep some night, and he came pretty close to doing just that.

As a widower, he was not a happy man------we all knew that. There was nothing we could do. He missed his wife and the life they once had together.

Husband had spoken to him on the phone around noon and said that his dad sounded "very tired".

We will miss him very much. He was often grumpy, but had at times a wicked sense of humor that could really grab your attention. He had a headfull of stories from the old days, about farming with horses, driving with horses, milking cows by hand, etc., etc. We won't hear those tales anymore from him.......my tears are coming fast and hard now.