Death of a Retiree

[kybearfuzz]

The other morning my office received some very bad news. One of the folks who retired from my office a few years ago passed away. We still don't know how, but he had multiple health problems and any one could have been the culprit.

The truly sad part was how we had heard about it. Apparently, he had died alone and was found by people sometime later. The authorities had no way of contacting his next of kin or anything. They had found a business card in his wallet of a person he had dealt with in US Customs. This person recommended him to our main office in DC, who then referred him to his supervisor in our Columbus office. The supervisor then had to contact the administrative officer to look in his file to see who he had listed as next of kin. This took more than a couple of days.

While I didn't know him very well, this coworker had always been very helpful and friendly and it surprised me that his friends and family weren't closer, but not all of us are close to family, I suppose. Still, it's a lonely way to pass on and I feel very bad for him and his family. bearpaco had posted on his journal the other day about how people should leave information with friends about contact information for family members. Suddenly, the importance hits home.

Comments

[ursaloco2.livejournal.com]

And always put ICE (in case of emergency) in front of contact numbers in your cell phone. Emergency medical personnel are instructed to look for cell phones for this very bit of information.

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of something that happened here recently. One of the guys in networking had apparently been having chest pains, but hadn't gone to the doctor yet. He told his wife that he was going to Home Depot to pick something up. When he wasn't back hours later, she called the police. They found him dead of a heart attack in the parking lot of Home Depot. :(