[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Posted on 11/22/2002 7:20 PM PST by kayak

FReeper ohioWfan has sent me the following message ...

"After an intense struggle to breathe that lasted more than 24 hours, Dad died this morning of 'Monster pneumonia.' His pain is over. He has been reunited with my mom and sister, his parents and all his siblings.
We have suffered the great loss of a great man, and a good friend. We will be together again some day, but the pain is enormous. We will be celebrating a Memorial Service for him on his 86th birthday on Sunday.
God is our comfort and support."

ohioWfan: I am sorry to hear about your loss.
May God Welcome your father Home and comfort his family and friends.

[Issaquahking]

OhioWfan

I am so sorry for your loss...prayers for you.

[MeekOneGOP]

Words cannot express my feelings for your loss, my FRiend.....

[Nix 2]

[radu]

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your father, ohioWfan. You and your family are in my prayers.

[firewalk]

Prayer bump...

(thanks for the ping Tonkin....)

[OldFriend]

Please know that all your FRiends here are praying for you to be comforted in this sad sad time.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Thanks for letting me know - did not know til just read this. Prayers for ohioWfan today upon the loss of her father. May the Holy Spirit who is our Comforter and Helper be present in all the gatherings to celebrate the life of this dear man. May God heal the hurting hearts and bring the certain hope of the resurrection into the minds and hearts of all those who knew and loved and will miss her father.

[knighthawk]

My condoleances to you.

[IronJack]

Prayers for Ohio in this time of grief.

[archy]

The description of OhioWfan's father's final hours is uncomfortably familiar to that of my mother's. Though I missed and mourned her, I was glad her suffering and struggle had eased, at least, and her fears about a long-term struggle with the malady that took her were over, at last.

Likewise my own dad, long ago, passed away from a case of pneumonia in the middle of summertime, brought on from a case of food poisoning exacerbated by the damage to his lungs from direct contact with freezing oxygen 8 miles above the earth as a B24 bomber crewman during WWII. Not all the war's casualties died during the conflict, but I know that he knew to enjoy what he could of each extra day he had, and I hope OhioWfan's dad managed the same.

I have no certain idea what awaits us Afterward. But I hope that the strangers who my dad might have met and liked in this world but by chance never ran across are now available for conversation and contemplation of common too-short lives, with an infinity of time to discuss such things. If so, than perhaps OhioWfan's dad and mine are now or will soon enjoy reminisces about the silliness or joys they once knew, and the pride they have in those they left behind to carry on their unfinished stories.

Rest well, gentle men.

-archy-/-