Life of the Century
My grandfather passed away peacefully last Friday evening in Abbeville, Louisiana. He was 98 years old. He had been hospitalized a couple weeks ago with a pathologic fracture in his leg and hip. While there he contracted pneumonia, the anti-biotics were having little effect. He had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In accordance with his advanced directives, the family decided to cease all treatment and make him comfortable. He was moved to hospice care earlier this week.
My mother said he was resting comfortably and was in peace all day Friday. He couldn't talk but my mother said they knew he knew they were there. It's hard and it's sad, but I'm glad he's no longer suffering. He would never have wanted to live in a nursing home in an invalid state. He was a fit and physically active man for nearly his entire life and only began his descent just a few years ago. I felt my visit last Christmas would most likely be the last time I saw him, and it was hard then to see how much he had deteriorated after Hurricane Rita.
But I'm really upset for my grandmother. In the space of barely less than a year, she's lost her home, her brother, and now her husband of 68 years. Thankfully there is a lot of family support for her down there.
My grandfather is survived by his wife (my grandmother), his four children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
He was born in the hills outside of Lynchburg, Virginia. His father was murdered by horse thieves when he was very young. At the age of 14, he fled his abusive step-father, lied about his age and joined the Merchant Marines, where he sailed all over the world, was a witness to the Spanish revolution, and lived for a time in New York during the Great Depression and was a sparring partner to Jack Dempsey. He eventually settled in the Gulf coastal area of Texas, working in the shipyards in Beaumont and Port Neches; he built many of the ships that would eventually see battle in the Pacific theatre of WWII, as well as ships that carried our troops to their destiny in the European theatre of war. He met my grandmother in Port Arthur, Texas when he paid a visit to the owners of a boarding house he had once stayed in. Their niece, had just left home in Henry, Louisiana to attend beauty school. After the war, he and his family settled in Port Arthur and owned and operated the American Taxi Stand for several years where they raised their family. My mother attended Thomas Jefferson High School, one of her classmates was Janis Joplin. They eventually moved to Henry, Louisiana where he worked off and on for some years with the Merchant Marines; as a security officer; and the manager of a motel in Abbeville. My grandparents then spent a number of years as volunteers at Abbeville General Hospital.
I take pause to think what all he lived through, and the times he remembered, thankfully, for so long: The first and second World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, travel by horse and cart, jet air travel, men landing and walking on the moon, women's suffrage, the Jim Crow laws of the South and the rise of the civil rights movement (and his fight for equal pay of African-Americans in the Merchant Marines), eighteen U.S. Presidents, the year he was born Teddy Roosevelt was President, and Victoria was on the throne in England, he was four years old when the Titanic sank - the list is endless.
He lived the 20th century....the American century.
My mother said he was resting comfortably and was in peace all day Friday. He couldn't talk but my mother said they knew he knew they were there. It's hard and it's sad, but I'm glad he's no longer suffering. He would never have wanted to live in a nursing home in an invalid state. He was a fit and physically active man for nearly his entire life and only began his descent just a few years ago. I felt my visit last Christmas would most likely be the last time I saw him, and it was hard then to see how much he had deteriorated after Hurricane Rita.
But I'm really upset for my grandmother. In the space of barely less than a year, she's lost her home, her brother, and now her husband of 68 years. Thankfully there is a lot of family support for her down there.
My grandfather is survived by his wife (my grandmother), his four children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
He was born in the hills outside of Lynchburg, Virginia. His father was murdered by horse thieves when he was very young. At the age of 14, he fled his abusive step-father, lied about his age and joined the Merchant Marines, where he sailed all over the world, was a witness to the Spanish revolution, and lived for a time in New York during the Great Depression and was a sparring partner to Jack Dempsey. He eventually settled in the Gulf coastal area of Texas, working in the shipyards in Beaumont and Port Neches; he built many of the ships that would eventually see battle in the Pacific theatre of WWII, as well as ships that carried our troops to their destiny in the European theatre of war. He met my grandmother in Port Arthur, Texas when he paid a visit to the owners of a boarding house he had once stayed in. Their niece, had just left home in Henry, Louisiana to attend beauty school. After the war, he and his family settled in Port Arthur and owned and operated the American Taxi Stand for several years where they raised their family. My mother attended Thomas Jefferson High School, one of her classmates was Janis Joplin. They eventually moved to Henry, Louisiana where he worked off and on for some years with the Merchant Marines; as a security officer; and the manager of a motel in Abbeville. My grandparents then spent a number of years as volunteers at Abbeville General Hospital.
I take pause to think what all he lived through, and the times he remembered, thankfully, for so long: The first and second World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, travel by horse and cart, jet air travel, men landing and walking on the moon, women's suffrage, the Jim Crow laws of the South and the rise of the civil rights movement (and his fight for equal pay of African-Americans in the Merchant Marines), eighteen U.S. Presidents, the year he was born Teddy Roosevelt was President, and Victoria was on the throne in England, he was four years old when the Titanic sank - the list is endless.
He lived the 20th century....the American century.
posted by Rg at 12:26 AM
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