Good morning,
Yesterday afternoon, I received the sad notice of my father passing. He was 71 years old. I spoke to my aunt in Wisconsin, she had received word from my dad’s cousin in the UK. He was diagnosed with COPD last week, and they found cancer spots on his lungs. When my aunt spoke to him Tuesday, he sounded sick, and had gone into hospital Wednesday night. He was apparently up walking around yesterday, but collapsed and could not be resuscitated. One of his friends was present at the hospital, and told my cousin he had stage 4 lung cancer. That doesn’t happen overnight, so either he didn’t know until it was too late, or wasn’t telling. I found out today that the cause of death was pulmonary embolism.
He had been a smoker since he was 18. We have all tried to get him to stop, but anyone that smokes, has been a smoker, or knows someone who is will know how that goes. I would joke that he would get Christmas cards from his favorite brand of cigarettes, because he was their best customer. He once took a vacation to Spain because the cost of cigarettes there was cheaper than in the UK, so much so he could pay for a flight and hotel as well for the same money.
He had good taste in music, and good taste in cars. As well as classic rock before it was classic (Pink Floyd, Eagles etc.), he also liked funk and soul like The Average White Band, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye etc. He took me to an AWB concert when I was about 11 years old. He owned a bunch of cool cars, probably rare outside of the UK, but he had a couple of Ford Capris (sold as Mercury Capris here from 70-77). Somewhere there is a picture of him in full 1970s regalia : platform heels, wide flared pants, wide lapel shirt and a kipper necktie.
I haven’t seen him since pre-Covid days, for at least three years, but we would speak on the phone every couple of weeks. I spoke to him a few weeks ago, he never mentioned any health problems. I meant to call him over the weekend just passed, but didn’t, and now I wished I had.
My mom is due to arrive here on Sunday for a week, so I have next week off. Her and my dad got divorced when I was very young, my dad remarried 15 years ago. I may end up jumping on a plane when my mom goes back or soon after, to take care of some things.
Lee.
Yesterday afternoon, I received the sad notice of my father passing. He was 71 years old. I spoke to my aunt in Wisconsin, she had received word from my dad’s cousin in the UK. He was diagnosed with COPD last week, and they found cancer spots on his lungs. When my aunt spoke to him Tuesday, he sounded sick, and had gone into hospital Wednesday night. He was apparently up walking around yesterday, but collapsed and could not be resuscitated. One of his friends was present at the hospital, and told my cousin he had stage 4 lung cancer. That doesn’t happen overnight, so either he didn’t know until it was too late, or wasn’t telling. I found out today that the cause of death was pulmonary embolism.
He had been a smoker since he was 18. We have all tried to get him to stop, but anyone that smokes, has been a smoker, or knows someone who is will know how that goes. I would joke that he would get Christmas cards from his favorite brand of cigarettes, because he was their best customer. He once took a vacation to Spain because the cost of cigarettes there was cheaper than in the UK, so much so he could pay for a flight and hotel as well for the same money.
He had good taste in music, and good taste in cars. As well as classic rock before it was classic (Pink Floyd, Eagles etc.), he also liked funk and soul like The Average White Band, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye etc. He took me to an AWB concert when I was about 11 years old. He owned a bunch of cool cars, probably rare outside of the UK, but he had a couple of Ford Capris (sold as Mercury Capris here from 70-77). Somewhere there is a picture of him in full 1970s regalia : platform heels, wide flared pants, wide lapel shirt and a kipper necktie.
I haven’t seen him since pre-Covid days, for at least three years, but we would speak on the phone every couple of weeks. I spoke to him a few weeks ago, he never mentioned any health problems. I meant to call him over the weekend just passed, but didn’t, and now I wished I had.
My mom is due to arrive here on Sunday for a week, so I have next week off. Her and my dad got divorced when I was very young, my dad remarried 15 years ago. I may end up jumping on a plane when my mom goes back or soon after, to take care of some things.
Lee.
