[nfb-talk] Fwd: Jim Merryfield is Passed Away

[Hope Hein]

Lauren, My heart and prayers are with you.
Hope

-----Original Message-----
.From: "David Andrews"<dandrews at visi.com>
.Sent: 8/21/07 8:02:51 AM
.To: "blindtlk at nfbnet.org"<blindtlk at nfbnet.org>, "nfb-talk at nfbnet.org"<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>, "blind-rollers at nfbnet.org"<blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
.Subject: [nfb-talk] Fwd: Jim Merryfield is Passed Away
.
.
.>
.>
.>Greetings to all of y'all,
.>
.>    The message you see below comes from Lauren Merryfield (formerly known
.>to some of you as Lauren eckery.  It is shocking news and I trust that all
.>our prayers and thoughts will be with Lauren in her time of need.
.>
.>Hi,
.>It is with a mixture of sadness and relief that I write that my beloved Jim
.>died this evening at 6:15PM, August 19th, 2007.  He was exactly
.>58-and-a-half years old to the day.
.>
.>Jim's heart muscle was weak.  He had both bacterial and viral infections in
.>his lungs and they spread to other organs.  The hospital staff worked really
.>hard to keep Jim going, but he was tired, and needed to be at peace, with no
.>more pain and trouble breathing.
.>
.>Jim was the sweetest person I've ever known.  He was so helpful to me,
.>without complaint, and hopefully, I was of help to him.  We think that our
.>marriage probably prolonged Jim's life by years.  We were blessed to have
.>celebrated our tenth anniversary May 30th of this year.  This is a much
.>longer time together than we had thought we'd have.
.>
.> We had many enjoyable trips, shared our love of all kinds of music, loved
.>God in our own weird ways, considered ourselves part of the beauty of nature
.>around us,  and we dearly loved our kitties together.
.>
.>We will probably have a special memorial service for Jim in September when I
.>can walk again.  Our minister will help us with this service.  He and our
.>Caring Circle know that Jim is gone and will continue the visitations to my
.>home which they had begun when I was discharged from the hospital last
.>Thursday.  The Visiting Angels will continue to come to help me with my
.>ankle issues.  I will have physical therapy and occupational therapy to help
.>me while I am a wheelchair user and as I am able to walk again.
.>
.>Jim wanted his body donated to science, so this has been arranged.  I
.>considered an autopsy but we're pretty sure what got him, and I wanted to do
.>as he wished.  We won't have funeral expenses that way so this will be
.>helpful.
.>
.>I don't know for sure if Jim is with Mikey, but I hope so.  Speaking of the
.>cats, they hid earlier today, no matter who was here and tonight they all
.>came out into the living room even when Kim, from Visiting Angels, was here.
.>When I went to the restroom, Jaspur followed me there and gave the most
.>plaintive, long meow.  I know he knows he has lost his Daddy.
.>
.>Jim's Mom, sister Ann, and friend, Phillip, were all with Jim today in the
.>physical sense.  I was with him in spirit.  I know he understood why I
.>couldn't be there, since I cannot handle the eight steps out of our
.>apartment building.  Right around the time he passed on, I felt a brief
.>feeling of relief.  I would like to think it was Jim telling me he is now
.>okay.
.>
.>I hope Jim's family will not forget about me because they are family to me,
.>too.  They gave me and the world a very ornery, and dear person to love!
.>
.>Jim visited me in the hospital last Sunday, and we said that we loved each
.>other.  The last time I talked with him, it was brief because he was having
.>trouble breathing.  This occurred on Friday afternoon, the 17th.  Again, we
.>said that we loved each other.
.>
.>I do not know what I will do as far as big decisions go, but there is time
.>for all of that later.  I hope people won't ask me too many questions that I
.>can't answer yet.  If they do, they'll just get "I don't know," because I
.>don't know.
.>
.>The one thing I do know is that I loved Jim as much as I could love anyone
.>and I respected him greatly.  We had a lot of fun and humorous times
.>together in spite of the illnesses and pain issues.  I will always love Jim
.>with all my broken but mending heart.
.>Thanks
.>Lauren
.>"Think about it, when we are kind to someone we are definitely not
.>unloving -- when we are kind to ourselves, that is loving ourselves -- when
.>we are kind to the Earth, we are demonstrating
.>love in action. " --Marie T. Russell
.>CATLINES has moved to a blog at:
.>http://bizcats.blogs.com/catlines/
.>Visit us at our catly site:
.>http://www.catliness.com
.>
.
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