The End of an Era
Dr. Clare A. Gunn born October 28,1916
On Sunday the 15th of November my brother Richard called and said that our father had passed out and that he was in emergency. Later that day he called and said ... "last call, bro." It was about as succinct as it could be and we packed up the bus and drove down to the Bryan area to see what was up.
The old professor was in the ER first and then they said that there wasn't anything that they could do in the future for him as he was in pretty dire straits physically, but no effect mentally.
A couple of days later we transferred him back to his room at the St Jo Manor Assisted Living unit where he had lived for the past 5 years. He looked stable and talkative so we hired some help to make sure he was comfortable but still thinking that this might be only a temporary pause in his long active life.
On the 18th I went down to the nursing unit and got Mom and brought her up to Dad's room for a chat as she hadn't seen him in a couple of days and he hadn't gone down to see her as he usually did every evening to watch their favorite TV programs together ... 74 years together!
Over the summer Dad had drawn a pen and ink drawing of the Flying Scotsman RV in his usual meticulously perfect style and had it framed as a future gift for me.
As we are in Bryan infrequently and the moment seemed right I said, "Why don't you present me with the picture instead of waiting for my birthday or some future occasion." He said that was great and told me to get it out of the closet.
He talked about the drawing and Mom was also engaged in the conversation during the presentation. All the paintings and drawings in the background were done by him, some dating back more than 60 years and the subject of a few were back to 1928 ... a really long time.
We chatted for a bit till he looked tired and then I took Mom back to her room down the hall and went back home ... and at about 3 am the next morning (November 19, 2015) he passed away ... tough to say any more other than we all will miss him ...
