God saw you getting tired
And a cure was not to be
So He put His arms around you
And said, "Come to me."
with tearful eyes we watched you
And saw you pass away
Although we loved you dearly
We could not make you stay
A golden heart stopped beating
Hard working hands at rest
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best...
~Unknown Author~

Ron was my ex-father-in-law... but I am glad that I had the privilege of having him in my life for the many years that I did.  He was a wonderful father, husband, brother, uncle, grandpa, friend and most of all father-in-law. 

In May 2005, they found an area on his CT of something outside the left pleura.  They scheduled a needle biopsy and a PET Scan to see if it was a tumor, cancer, etc.  The results came back showing it was cancerous and they scheduled surgery for him on June 16th. It appeared to be 4 cm in size, but there was a hazy area, so they weren't sure if it was larger. 

The type of cancer that Ron had is called Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma (MFH)... which is a rare form of cancer and he had a very aggressive tumor.  The surgeon wanted him to see an oncologist asap and it actually ended up being larger than 9 cm in size.  They recommended he see a specialist for consultation in Boston at the Dana Farber Institute... but unfortunately that never happened. 

On July 12th, he wasn't feeling well.  They brought him up to the hospital and he was running a fever of 102.3, had fluid on his lungs and had an infection.  They kept him overnight for observation and then the next day ended up sending him out to St. Peters Hospital where he had his surgery done.  My ex-husband, Bruce called me on his cell phone on his way out to the hospital that night.  Unfortunately his phone was cutting in and out and all I really ended up hearing from him, was that his dad's organs were starting to shut down and they didn't think he was going to make it thru the night.  I was beyond shocked... it just seemed like a bad dream.  On July 14th, 2005, Ron was taken from us.  Cancer took your health, but God took your soul to be with him always. 

These are two pictures from my wedding to Ron's son Bruce.  Ron married Joan Gorton on November 24th, 1963.  They had two children, Bruce and Yuvette.  Ron owned and operated his own barber shop for 49 years.  Some of his interests were repairing and restoring player pianos and bicycles, going to antique shops and old car shows.  He loved doing things with his hands, he hand carved a horse and buggy for both of his children.  About 10 years ago, Ron decided he wanted to create his own merry-go-round, complete with hand-carved horses... since he was a youngster, he had been fascinated with carousels.   He used mainly black walnut and other hardwoods to carve the 7 1/2 inch tall horses.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to complete the carousel, but what he had accomplished with it, was extremely amazing!

The Broken Chain

We little knew that morning that God
Was going to call your name
In life we loved you dearly
In death we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you
You did not go alone;
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

You left us peaceful memories,
Your love is still our guide
And though we can not see you,
You are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken,
And nothing seems the same
But as God calls us one by one
THE CHAIN will link again.

~Author Unknown~