A sad day

Yesterday was a sad day for me. One of the people I care for in my job, which by the way is a community inclusion program for people with disabilities, passed away in the night. His name was Frank, and he had become ill about 2 weeks before, and he just couldn't pull through it. Frank was a very dear man. He was tall, if he were standing, probably 6 feet or more. He had salt and pepper hair, and always wore sun glasses, as a result of siezures which were worse in the sun. He had a wonderful dry sense of humor and found many things funny, especially funny stories, puns, and anecdotes. He laughed when a story caught him as funny, and sometimes we, the staff, would just be talking and would hear a snicker from behind us as we drove in the van, and would look back and see Frank smiling to himself about what we said. One story especially made him laugh, for hours. A girl was talking about a previous job she started as an in home caregiver and when arriving to the home she got no answer, called her employer who checked out the situation and found out the 90 + year old woman had beat up her caregiver putting her in the hospital. Frank found this hilarious, I asked him if he had a few caregivers he'd like to knock the crap out of, and he agreed. Frank couldn't really talk, he raised his eyebrows for yes and shook his head for no. He could say yes, and a few other words, but not more than a croak. He loved coffee, it had to be thickened and he had to be fed, but he loved it. He loved pretty girls and he and his weekend nurse John would spend a lot of time "birdwatching" at the park. Frank was born with no disability but due to a brain tumor at age ten became disabled and unable to walk. He also became unable to eat and eventually had to be fed by a tube. He continued to eat for pleasure, the things he could, and at out last big outing, to Oaks park, I gave him a bite of cotton candy which he loved. He grew up on the oregon coast and always loved the beach, and especially loved clam chowder. The only thing he liked more than chowder was chocolate. He was a devout man, and loved the Lord, he loved to have the bible read to him and enjoyed when we talked about God. He liked to listen to gospel music and even liked to sing, although this became more difficult later in life due to his deteriorating neurological condition. I will miss Frank very much, and I just wanted to tell a bit about this person who I have worked with every day for more than a year, and whose company I very much enjoyed.
God bless you Frank!