Rest in Peace Jerry

This is a picture of our friend Jerry.
He is probably the most christ-like being I have ever met in my whole life.
One of my best memories of him was on Thanksgiving about 5 years ago. We were each saying what we were thankful for around the table and Jerry (who had a tracheostomy and could not speak or eat....he had a tube in his stomach to be fed with, he weighed about 90 pounds dripping wet and he was on portable oxygen) writes down ....."I am so grateful to be surrounded by good friends, to be healthy and happy."
He ended up living in this nursing home where confused elderly people would come in his room and steal stuff...like his clothes and false teeth and he never got mad about it....He found humor in it. Whenever it was time to go back to the nursing home, Jerry always wanted to take leftovers from dinner and dessert back to the nurses. The nurses loved him because he was such a bright light in that nursing home!!! Whenever we would visit him, he would give us something. The kids never left empty handed....whether it was stuffed animals he won in bingo at the nursing home or a tape of the three stooges that someone recorded for him. (He loved the three stooges.) Jerry taught me that we are all responsible for our own happiness and life can be full of love no matter what your situation. It all depends on your perspective.
Jerry ended up on a ventilator and got transferred out of the nursing home here in Medina to a different one after several months in the ICU. Unfortunately because of HIPPA laws, we were not allowed to be informed where he went. Mark did finally get a hold of someone in the state of ohio department of vital statistics that told him Jerry died in August of 2005.
He was 57 years old. He was born in Kentucky and had 14 siblings. He worked at the cleveland clinic in the laundry department before he got throat cancer and was over radiated. I am so glad I got to spend the time I did with him because he taught me so much.