250422 How Grandpa Died

Grandpa passed away in 1974.

He was 84 years old. He developed a problem with his left knee and could barely walk. He went to Saint Ann’s hospital in Saint Louis for an operation. Doctors there worked on his knee and they stated the operation was a success.

The only problem was the anesthesia they used and he was in a coma for several days until he passed away. We were with him there every day. Grandpa’s passing was a dark day for us.

No matter how dark a situation is, sometimes there is a lighter side to the story. The following is the light side in this story.

My uncle Kenny was an alcoholic and he would sometimes be gone for days or weeks at a time. He was a Marine in WW2. He served in Carlson’s raider battalion. Their job was to infiltrate Japanese held islands to harass the Japs and mess with them. They would sneak into their camps at night and slit the throats of the Jap sentries on duty and while there kill a few more. By morning the raiders were gone without a trace of where they were or how they got there.

Kenny had been gone on a drunken bender. He heard about grandpa when he was in a local tavern and he was going to go visit grandpa. While in the tavern, he overheard a fisherman who was telling a story about the huge catfish he caught that day. The catfish was when held at the fisherman’s waist, it’s length went down near to his shoes. Kenny said he’d like to see that fish. Out in the parking lot Kenney had never seen a fish that big. He asked the fisherman if he cooked the head of the fish. The man said no he would toss the fish head. Kenny asked if he could have the head to show to an old man in the hospital. They cut off the head and Kenny headed for the hospital. He got there late at night, long after visiting hours were closed. That was no problem for Kenny. He slipped by the nurses on duty and into grandpa’s room. Grandpa was still in his comatose state. Kenny left the huge catfish head under grandpa’s bed. Grandpa died that night. When the nurse went in to check grandpa and saw he had passed she called mom to let her know. The nurse also asked what she should do about the huge catfish head? Was it part of some voodoo ritual? Mom knew in an instant that Kenny had been there. She told the nurse it was okay to throw the head away.

Some time after grandpa’s burial mom went through his meager belongings and found grandpa’s prayer rosary. She gave the rosary to me. She knew I would hold on to it until I died. I have it still and look at it every day. Grandpa wore those beads out. A few are missing and I can see where the metal connectors between the beads had to be rejoined after one of the beads was lost. Grandpa knelt down every night, held those beads and said his prayers. I can remember seeing him doing it once. I backed away and I doubt he even knew I was there.