Dad passed away on Monday, February 21, 2005. His last days were peaceful after a two year battle with cancer. He had been living in Hastings at the loving home of my sister Nancy and her family since early December where he was receiving hospice care. Dad enjoyed coming home to Nebraska after spending most of the previous year and a half in Seattle with us. He was able to visit with a large number of family and friends. He spent his time writing manuscripts related to his research and keeping up with news about his grandchildren and Nebraska football. His writing was done on his laptop sitting in recliner with a view of the Nebraska countryside that he loved so much.
We were all with Dad at the end as we were meeting in North Platte for a ceremony to name a street after Dad. The ceremony was on Sunday. My family and I came directly from Seattle and ended up being the only family in attendance as Nancy and Cynthia’s families stayed in Hastings with Dad. The city of North Platte has a long history of people giving back to the community. Dad was a part of that and so were the people who paid tribute to him. The ceremony was touching. We were particularly moved by one man’s comments, who said that his wife had benefited from Dad’s softball coaching and he wanted to be just like Gail Wicks. We were also touched by the number of comments that were made about Mom’s supporting role.
