Here's my Pastor on April 23, about two weeks before he died. It was two days after his birthday. He was giving us words of encouragement even in his time of need. He hadn't been able to make it to church for about four weeks, but for his birthday, a recliner was brought in and one of his sons in law wheeled him in in a wheel chair. On March 23, a mere month earlier, this man had been in Branson, shopping for new clothes and having a wonderful three day holiday with his wife of 49 years (it was their anniversary). The day they got back from Branson everything fell apart. He was finally talked in to going to the doctor and they put him on oxygen and he stayed at his oldest daughter's home for four weeks. He went back to the doctor for some tests, came home and fainted. He was rushed back to the hospital and a few days later his lungs collapsed. He was sedated and put on a ventilator but it didn't do any good. His lungs just couldn't last another day. I don't know how many days they kept him on the ventilator, but when they took it out, he didn't live long without it. Longer than most people, the nurses said. Usually people are gone within 10 to 15 minutes when it's removed. Brother Leon breathed on his own for several hours but his wife knew he wasn't coming out of it. But, he got a chance to say his good byes before the tubes were put down his throat. He was telling her some financial things, and some matters of the heart, then he added "And don't sell the jack asses". A teaser till the very end. He loved his donkeys and he'd had these two for quite a while. She said to us, the congregation, the sheep, if you will, "I guess I'll be keeping those stupid jack asses until they drop dead out in the field!"

The other picture is of us laying hands on him and praying for him. It was during this time I looked over at my Mom and found a size sticker still on her shirt. Right down the front, a long strip of clear tape with "M" written several times in a vertical column. I reached out and snatched it off as I said "Mother!" and she laughed and said "And this is the second time I've worn this shirt! I wore it in Hawaii!" We both got a laugh out of that one.