To the editor:
Why April? My father died in April, 1955, my brother OB in April 2003. Don, an artist and my true friend since 1982, had his own list: triple bypass in April 1997, double hernia in April 1998, and his artist son died suddenly at 25 of an aneurysm in April 1999.
April stayed clear after that, but he was treated for prostrate cancer in 2002 and, in December 2010, diagnosed with heart failure and placed on oxygen.
He loved Maine and from his first trip, would have moved there in a minute — to Houlton, Bangor, Camden or Belfast. Pennsylvania, his home state, is very friendly, but he liked the laid-back attitude in Maine.
As a commercial artist, he was head of the creative arts department at Bausch & Lomb. As a fine artist, he painted from memory, rarely from photos. The mountain at Nickerson Lake later inspired the mountain in his painting of a Seneca Indian scene.
In 2010, during a semiconscious period due to lack of oxygen, he had a near-death experience, which he reported as so pleasant, comfortable and comforting that, “if dying is like that, I’m ready to go.” He died this year, April 4 (4-4-16) at 4 a.m.
Two weeks later a woman told me about almost drowning at 17. When she resisted the woman who was trying to save her, she was hit on the head and blacked out. “I saw such beautiful, bright lights all over and heard glorious music like none I heard before or since. All so wonderful that I wanted it to last. I’m 71 and it seems like yesterday. Since then I’ve had no fear of death.”
The book, “Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief”, by Andrew Newbery, Eugene D’Aquiti, Vince Rause, 2002, explains the neural mechanisms behind deep meditation and near-death experiences. Pilots have reported similar experiences when oxygen drops too low.
Before Don’s mother died in 1988, her rings disappeared between the nursing home and the hospital. Don’s own fingers appeared swollen, but a nurse was able to remove his two rings. The funeral director held for me only hearing-aids and the “No Breathing Tube” silver tag from around his neck. He had bought it after the doctor who performed the hernia operation came to his room, furious because he had not been informed before he ordered a tube. His white coat was covered with blood from getting the tube out.
The funeral director related how a previous customer had demanded that the gold teeth from his father’s mouth be returned. I told him that we don’t remove dentures or teeth because of potential problems with tissue and jaw-bone structure. He persisted, so I called a dentist. No way would he remove teeth, second called said the same. The third said, “I’ll do it for $400. He’ll receive about $25 for the gold caps.”
When I told my former dentist, he nodded and added his own story. “In a stall at the Paris flea market in 1963, I saw two huge piles of dentures on either side of a mirror. A man would try them on till satisfied with the fit, then pay, and go on his way.” (Smiling, no doubt.)
