My dad had come for his doctor's appointment. He had severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. He had very crippled hands, hips, knees, feet. Yet to keep himself busy he did woodworking. I can not even begin to tell you how he did this! He even painted all this woodwork himself! It was amazing. He bought a bunch of his work with him. I bought two parrots for Colleen's boy's boys. I chose a dog that I kept for myself.

Friday my dad called me from Rita's. He told me that he thought he should go to the emergency room, would I take him. He said, "He was having chest pain!" I knew that he must be in a lot of pain to want to go to the hospital! He would avoid a hospital. He had a very high pain tolerance. Rita and Eddie had gone to bingo. I went right over. I barely got him in my car. He was really moaning in pain! I told him don't you have a heart attack on me dad, we are almost there! He said, "I'll try to hang on!" He said, "Did you ever notice that when I get sick you are the one there for me?" I told him I had never thought about it but he was right! I told my dad to wait I would go get a wheelchair for him. I ran in a nurse was standing there. I grabbed a wheelchair and she followed me. We got him out of the car. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong, they ruled out heart problems. They decided that it could be muscle spasms in his chest. So they gave him medication to relax with. He was there quite a while before the medication started working. They let him go I brought him to my house and put him to bed. He slept on and off. Doctor Jacobs called Saturday to say that he did not want my dad to go back to Wyoming. He wanted to see him Monday because he felt something was very wrong. He said, "I know your dad is a very stubborn man but talk him into staying." I told him I would. I told my dad what Dr. Jacobs said. He said, "Okay he would see him Monday. I knew he had to eat but nothing sounded good to him. He asked me to get him some popcycles and what ever I needed. He offered me money but I would not take it. I asked him if chicken noodle soup sounded good. He said, "I'll try and eat that but later on." So I started making whole made chicken noodle soup for him. We spent a lot of time talking when he was awake. He told me I was the one in charge of his will. He told me the reason he made me in charge of his will is because I was the smartest one. "I use my head," he said. He told me his will was in his desk with all the other papers I would need. He told me he had changed his will because Yvonne (his wife of 2 years) kept leaving him to deal with her children. He said, "He did not want to leave a lot of money because she would give it to her worthless children." He told me to hire a truck and help move her to Denver. Pay a couple of months rent for her to get on her feet and give her a few hundred dollars. He said, "You know what I mean, don't be mean to her but don't let her have the rest of the money!" He told me Eddie and Rita, already got their share of the money cause they never paid him back. He said, "Don't buy an expensive casket but I do want a vault, like your mom's." I told him okay. He told me he was very proud of all of us. He said, "I don't tell you guy's because I thought you all knew this." He told me none of you ever caused me any problems and he was grateful for that! He told me that he was very proud of me and the way I was raising Alise! He said, "She has a great mind and a clear head, she is going to be someone!" You have done a really good job with her," he said. I thanked him for saying that, he said, "I mean it to!" I smiled and said, "I know, you mean it!" He also told me how smart he felt I was again. He even talked about the insight I have with people. About three different times he told me how much I was like him. He said, "You really know what you are talking about when it comes to people." He said, "Victoria you see people's souls not what they look like on the outside." "That has never mattered to you see there souls and that is very good honey." He laid there smiling at me like he finally figured me out. He said, "All three of my kids are wonderful!" I started feeling something was wrong. He never talked like this before. I felt he was preparing me for his death, he knew something was going on.

Saturday it was very hard for him to sleep because the room was so bright. I hung towels to help keep out some of the light. I told him I was going to the store. I went and bought some material to make curtains. I made them real fast. Wayne and I hung them. I had a hanging plant above the bed. When I dropped part of the plant on him he started joking about what I had done. He had a great sense of humor, even as sick as he was.

I called Rita and I said, "I think dad might be dying." I told her what he was saying. She said, "No, Victoria, no!" I told her that he was getting weaker and weaker. He needed help sitting up and even eating.

Sunday he talked even more. He talked about how much Uncle Albert and Aunt Rosemarie had done for him. He talked about what a good person Lee was to him, taking him out fishing. He told me that the boat would go to Lee because of all he had done for him. I said, "That Lee wanted to take him fishing on Father's Day, but I was here." He smiled, "That would have been really nice," he said. "He is really a good guy, he treats me so good," he said. He even talked about John, saying how he was going to make a shop for him to do his woodwork in. He said, "John is a real good guy to only no one understands him." He talked about having to live with his arthritis and how hard it has been on him. He said, "Sometimes life is hard to live especially if you're in pain most of the day." He talked about quality of life verses quantity! I told him I understood what he meant. He said, "The pain I have is not life." He did not feel it was life. The people around me do not understand how painful life gets for me. I told him I did understand what he meant. I told him he has been in pain for a lot of years with his arthritis. I said, "Life is not fair to some people, dad." He said, "Your right, Victoria!" He talked about wishing he had spent more time with Uncle Lloyd. He said, "With Uncle Pete we see each other once in a while and this is good." He talked about Uncle Gus and how hard he has worked all his life. He said, "Even now he works so hard on his farm!" "He loves his farm and this is good for him," he said. He told me Uncle Gus always wanted a farm and now he has it. He told me that Aunt Jennie is a fighter with her cancer, he was proud of her. "She did not give in to it Victoria, even as painful as it is, " he said. I sat in the room with him working on my computer. He said, "Look how smart your are!" You figured out how to run your computer all by yourself."

Monday came and I told Rita that we needed to find an ambulance that would come to take him to the Doctor on a stretcher. I told her he could not sit up on his own. He could not even walk. Rita found one after many of them said no. They took him to the emergency room and called his Doctor. They admitted him in to the hospital. I saw him that night. He started joking about everything shriveling up on him. He was very dehydrated. He looked under the covers at what it seemed like his penis but he had a gown on. He goes yes even my bell pepper is going I now have a cerrono pepper. No sure of the spelling of this but it is a little tiny hot pepper. He still had his sense of humor. We all had to laugh when he said this. He brought up the subject of me having so much insight again. He said, "You look at people and see there heart you see more than most people see." The he said, "You realize that you get this from me don't you?" He said, "You did not get this from your mom." Then he told me that my mom was not the smartest person around. I said, "dad!" He said, "It's the truth!" We laughed! They found staphylococcus in his blood stream they started antibiotics IV.

Tuesday he was seeing things like bugs on the ceiling. He kept asking me if I saw them. I said, "No maybe it was the medication he was on." He asked, "If I could see the lady standing by the couch, he smiled as he looked at the ceiling she was a big red teddy bear on the couch." He said, "I know her!" Rita and I looked at each other because we both knew the last gift I gave my Mom was a red teddy bear! We were so shocked at what he said! I told my dad I would not be seeing him Wednesday because I had to give Alise a birthday party. He said, "That was okay and asked for his checkbook." He wrote a check to Alise for her birthday. He could barely even write it!

Wednesday, the doctors were talking about taking out his total hips because staphylococcus hides in them. I asked, "Yvonne what other choices do we have?" She said, "They didn't say." I told her the other choice is to let him go. They can give him pain medicine to keep him comfortable, because if they remove his hip replacements, he will never walk again. Dad already told me he did not want to ever end up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. So I knew which way I was going to go with this decision if it came to this. Thursday he ends up in intensive care. The nurse noticed he was not breathing right. Yvonne called and told us to get to the hospital right away. Rita made it. I had to find someone to watch my day care children. When I got to the hospital I let the valet park my car. I ran in got on the elevator. When I got on a father and a new born baby got out. I felt in my heart my dad died. He had to make room for this new baby. I got to intensive care I looked up at the clock it said 11:15 A.M. Rita said, "He is gone." His oxygen was still on his IV was still running. I asked, Rita when did dad die?" She said, "Just a few minuets ago." Rita had noticed his heart monitor slowing down. She told dad if he wanted to go with Jesus, he could go now because he told us all the things that we needed to know. She told him you have made peace with all of us! He mouthed (his voice was gone) "I love you all!" He took his last breath! He left so peaceful and he looked so much younger than 70 years old. What ended up taking him was pulmonary emboli that he had in his lungs, he only had this for approximately fifteen minuets before he died. He left peacefully and fast! He also had staphylococcus in is blood stream.

He died on June 22, 1995 one day after my daughter Alise's 17th birthday. He was buried in Wheatland, Wyoming next to my mom. True Story.