Dad died Monday, morning at 8:12 am, officially anyway. I arrived at the hospital just after 8:00 and called Kate and Larry at the house at 8:06 that they needed to come right away. Even as I said those words, I knew he would be gone before they arrived.
When I walked into his room, I could see that his face was white and thought that he was already gone. I walked around to his right side. He was completely silent. I thought at first he had stopped breathing then noticed he was just breathing gently and slowly. When I held his right hand, it was cold. I felt the left, and it was still warm. I told him I was there and that I loved him. He took a few more breaths and then stopped. I called the nurse. Two of them came in to check his heart. Neither could pick up a beat. We looked at the clock and noticed that it was still set on Daylight Savings Time and 5 minutes ahead at that. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 8:14. One of the nurses said, “Should we say 8:14?” I said, “Being a data man, let’s say it was 8:12. I think that would be a more precise guestimate.”
Dad’s brother and his wife left just before 8:00. Larry is just arriving here. Kate and I are drained. I will comment later on the service and reception.
