Heart transplant recipient Sonny Graham, left, and his wife, Cheryl,
pray during a moment of silence in this Dec. 1, 2006, file photo.
Posted on 04/07/2008 10:27:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (April 6) - A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
No foul play was suspected in 69-year-old Sonny Graham's death at his Vidalia, Ga., home, investigators said. He was found Tuesday in a utility building in his backyard with a single shotgun wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Graham, who was director of the Heritage golf tournament at Sea Pines from 1979 to 1983, was on the verge of congestive heart failure in 1995 when he got a call that a heart was available in Charleston.
That heart was from Terry Cottle, 33, who had shot himself, Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said.
Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.
"I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."
In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married after Graham retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications in Hilton Head.
From their previous marriages, the couple had six children and six grandchildren scattered across South Carolina and Georgia.
Cheryl Graham, now 39, has worked at several hospices in Vidalia. A telephone message left Sunday at a listing for Cheryl and Sonny Graham in Vidalia was not immediately returned.
Sonny Graham's friends said he would be remembered for his willingness to help people.
"Any time someone had a problem, the first reaction was, 'Call Sonny Graham,' " said Bill Carson, Graham's friend for more than 40 years. "It didn't matter whether you had a flat tire on the side of the road or your washing machine didn't work. He didn't even have to know you to help you."
A little too strange, and damned coincidental.
The story really doesn't give enough information regarding the circumstances of Mr. Graham's death, although it seems to me that it would be rather difficult to shoot oneself in the throat with a shotgun.
If only there was an alternative theory...
about to be discussed on Coast to Coast with George
There was an earlier thread with a pic of the Mr. and Mrs. He looks ancient and sick, she's a thirty-something hottie.
Hmm...
Prior thread on another version of the story:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1998102/posts
(Just so people can cross reference)
I dunno... I certainly can’t think of one (but it’s way past my bedtime, so maybe I’m missing something obvious)... /s
“According to scientists, there are more than 70 documented cases of transplant patients taking on some of the personality traits of the organ donors.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/07/wheart107.xml
Whackjob.
That’s the one. Thanks!
This “suicide” verdict kinda reminds me of the case of Drew Peterson’s first wife ...
He bought her a house before they married. I guess if she did it, then he must have been hanging around too long and she was impatient? But I think that she must have either had expert help or the police are incompetent, if she actually did it.
I think she may have difficulty finding a third husband.
She was tough to live with.
They just didn't have the heart.
Heart transplant or not, anyone should think long and hard before marrying the widow(er) of a suicide.
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