This is Getting Ridiculous
July 4, 2007 | In: Family
There was yet another death in my family. My Uncle Tom (my mother’s oldest brother) passed away this morning at the age of 75.
He was driving his truck on SR 1 and noticed someone on the side of the road by his property. Lately, he had been having problems with people dumping crap on his land, so he went to make sure this guy wasn’t doing something he shouldn’t. Turns out, the guy was simply changing his tire, so Tom went on about his business. At some point thereafter, the guy looked back and saw Tom slumped over inside his truck.
Apparently, Uncle Tom passed away from a sudden heart attack. He was not known to have any prior heart problems, but I don’t know if he kept on top of his health.
Just last week I sat across Uncle Tom during a meal after my cousin Steve’s funeral. We chatted about the airplane he used to own, and how he took Mom up in it once when the door wouldn’t stay shut. Apparently, that didn’t phase either of them, and they still had a good time. He seemed like he was in good health, emotionally and physically, for a man of his age.
He never married, and lived by himself in an A-frame cabin on the banks of the Whitewater River down in Franklin County, Indiana. It was a fairly regular tradition to go down to his property every year for some family event, but often it was for my Grandmother’s birthday.
It’s a very sad time for my family. This is the fourth death in the last eight weeks, and it is really taking an emotional toll on several of us. Personally, I’m doing OK, but I’m worried about Mom. She was taking it hard today, but my sister came up today and I made it over to the house after work, so I think that helped a lot.
Ugh! I really hope this is it for a long time.
