CATEGORY: METZGER

Hi Mom ~

I enjoyed reading your story. Thank you for sending it.
Dick died April 16, 1990 in his home.  He died of cancer. He had moved with Audrey to a house down the hill, maybe a mile from our old house on Oak Street, closer to Metzger Grade School. There is not much more I can tell you about your specific questions.

We knew he was dying. There was a hospital bed set up in the front room. I spoke to him six days before he died. I then went home and wrote him a note which Audrey read to him a couple of days later.

One of the kids called me the day he died, probably Deanna or Debbie. We were invited to come over to Dick and Audrey’s home for a southern style wake. I seem to remember that Audrey grew up in Arkansas or nearby.
Jena and Lara were eleven and nine years old. Beth and I took them over and we sat around Dick and said goodbye. We were the only ones present who were not blood or married family.

The funeral service was on April 21st, a day I was scheduled to work. I was allowed by my sergeant to attend on-duty/in-uniform. I spoke at the service, reading the note I had sent him more than a week before.

The rest of this message does not include anything that I spoke about at the service.

I am grateful that you asked Dick in 1966 to look after me when I moved back to Portland to live with Dad. You apparently knew that this was the best you could do for me in a situation where you were forced to make a challenging decision. I’m sure none of your options appeared to be as safe and positive as you would have liked. Dick made all the difference. I am grateful for how you made your way through that and how it all turned out.
Then, later when I was in college, I took Beth to meet Dick when she was my new girlfriend.

During the 1980’s he taught Jena and Lara to fish and we went on multiple camping trips to the Oregon coast and Suttle Lake.

As you know, Dick had a dark side. He had his illusions, of course. He worked very hard to get all his loved ones to live well and be happy. I suspect that one of his biggest illusions was that he could force them all to be happy. I trust he did the best he could. He worked on me as if I was his eldest son and in my case it seemed to work.
I will always be grateful to him.

Love As Always, Eric