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Note: N182 Jack was born in 1942.
Hello John, (John Evans, Jack’s 1st cousin)
I have some sad news to pass along. My father, Jack Oliver, passed away last Friday (June 17). He was buried on Tuesday (June 21) at Highland Park Cemetery in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He would have been 63 years old yesterday.
I know that my dad liked you and your family a lot, and he really enjoyed the time he got to spend with you when he was a child. He couldn't remember many of his cousins, but he always remembered the Evans boys.
I called Charlene Thomas (Mike's wife) in Washington last night and let her know, and she said that she would talk to Vicki and others in the Washington area. Unfortunately my dad had all the contact information for his Bline relatives, and the only people I know from that side of the family are you and Charlene. My mom asked me to get in touch with you because although she didn't know you, she knew of my dad's affection for you, and my mom was also very fond of your mother.
When I talked to Charlene she mentioned that Uncle Jerry has dementia now, too -- my grandma Lola suffered the same, and so did my dad. He was real bad in the last few months before he died. He remembered some things very well -- like things from Vietnam and things he did when he was a young man -- but he'd get confused about his daughters' names or how many children he had... things like that. He didn't remember that I had gotten married last September, even though he was there and had talked to me about it for months before the wedding. I guess that is common for people with dementia, but it still hurts when your dad doesn't remember who you are.
He has been in the Indiana Veteran's Home in West Lafayette, Indiana, since April. He really needed 24-hour care, and since he hasn't been able to work in the past several years he didn't have much in the way of money -- the Veteran's Home was one of the few places we could afford for him. If I had known he was only going to live 2 more months I would have found a way to put him up in the Hilton with a private nurse, but you never know these things. We all thought we'd have a few more years with him.
Apparently on Friday morning two nurses were helping him get dressed, and he was talking to them. The one nurse told my sister Sharyn that he finished his sentence and then just stopped breathing. They tried CPR and took him to St. Elizabeth's hospital there in Lafayette, but he was gone. We are thankful that it was so quick, and the nurse said that he gave no sign of being in pain. He had had a series of small strokes over the past couple of years and they told us that those often happen before a major stroke, so we are assuming that a massive stroke took him.
He would have been very pleased and proud if he could have seen his funeral. Men from the VFW Post 3360 in Defiance, Ohio, came out to the cemetery in Ft. Wayne. They presented my mother with the U.S. flag, and a man played Taps on the bugle after they gave my dad a 21-gun salute. It was very honorable and respectful, and also very moving. I will never forget it.
On behalf of my family, I hope that you will keep my dad in your prayers.
Love, Kelly (Jack’s Daughter)
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