Help us to Remember Ron

Hi, my name is Travis, and I'm one of Ron's 35 Grandkids. This year we were all planning on traveling back to Washington to spend Christmas together with all our extended family, which was something we hadn't been able to do for several years. Unfortunately, as we packed up our gifts in preparation for our trip, we discovered that Granddad and Grandma had contracted Covid-19. The news of their sickness made our hearts drop, but in the back of our minds, we had high hopes that they would be ok. Being a perpetually active person, we knew it wouldn't be long before Granddad was up running errands or in his garage tinkering with the seemingly endless projects he had lined up over the years.

It became quickly apparent that this situation was not the same. Granddad didn't have enough energy to do much except sleep and go to the bathroom for the next couple of days. Grandma would check on him, but she also was so drained of energy that she struggled to do much either. Finally, Christmas came, and Grandad got up to visit and open gifts. The disease had progressed to where his breathing was labored, and opening a present was a challenge. Shortly after Christmas, he asked to call an ambulance because he couldn't breathe. This was the last time his family would see him awake.

Once he arrived at the hospital, he was treated with oxygen to help stabilize him, but despite the doctor's efforts, he started suffering from severe Covid related symptoms. The weeks following were filled with the family meeting over zoom with Doctors, hearing each day about the ups and downs of his prognosis. Some days there was hope and progress, and then the next, we were faced with the seriousness of his condition.

It took three weeks in ICU before the Doctors and the family had concluded that Granddad's chance of survival was low, having made no progress towards breathing on his own. Even worse was the idea that he might survive only to live a life he never wanted, completely dependent on others for much of his needs. At this point, we made the difficult choice to transfer him to comfort care and realized that the person we loved so much had been gone for quite some time.

My Granddad Ron was so caring and kind, always trying to help people however he could. We have seen this even more in the messages, calls and stories from family and friends who loved him. He told me often, "All I want is for everyone to be happy," and that was the vision he carried for much of his life.

We want to provide a time for all of the people he cared about to come together to remember Ron, to share their favorite memories and help each other heal from the pain of losing him. To do this, we will have a Viewing on Friday, February 4th, from 3 pm to 5 pm and a Funeral Service on Saturday from 12:30 pm-1:30 pm. These services will be held at Evergreen Memorial Gardens in Vancouver, WA. After the funeral, there will be an Open House at his home. The Family would be grateful to have you visit.

As you can imagine, this was a massive heartbreak that none of us had expected. We want to make sure the costs for services, arrangements and hosting guests are not stressful for Grandma after she has had to walk through so much difficulty already. If you would like to help, a donation of any amount would be a blessing.

We look forward to seeing you and spending time remembering Ron.

Best Regards,

Travis Evenden