when you get "that call"

rayporter

WKR
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
4,251
Location
arkansas or ohio
have you got that call?
what do you do if a friend calls from 750 miles away.

in a week it will be 11 years since i got the call from my best friends wife, she was bawling and i could only understand a few words "sams dead"

it was just getting dark here and raining. it was snowing in ohio.

i sat in stunned silence for an hour. finally marilyn asked me what i was going to do. i guess i am going up there i told her. a few minutes of thought and i grabbed my coat and hit the road.

i pulled into her drive at daylight when my phone rang. she asked are you going to come up?"

when i told her i was sitting outside she came flying out through the snow to hug me and was still crying , as was i.

i sorted his guns for 2 days and made a few calls to see if i could get some one to make a serious offer on all at once.

one fellow offered $7000 compared. to others of about 3000. i told her to take the 7000. yes were worth more but i would have been at least a year selling them.

so i have been sitting here just reminiscing.

the summer before we had paddled the boundary waters and he was not normal. i could not put a finger on it but he just did not put his normal effort into anything. that winter he had a stroke. i am sure now he had a mini stroke on the trip.

the following year we went elk hinting and i killed a bull and of course he had trouble. he went to camp and laid down while i brought the meat down.

and that winter he had heart surgery. 4 days later he was gone.

the following year i had an either sex tag. before i left his wife gave me an urn with his ashes and i emptied the urn over a cow carcass as i read from the bible. he loved the mountains as do i.
 

mtjimbo

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 24, 2019
Messages
183
Reminiscing is a good but hard thing to do at times, I lost my uncle 3 years ago to a heart attack on the mountain, his son and I both there. A truly life changing experience death can be. It's amazing at least for me how the bad memories can melt away after sometime and you are left remembering at least mostly the good, it brings calm to the heart knowing friends like you in the case are there to care for loved ones and belongings, everyone should arrive to be and have a friend like that.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk
 

hunt1up

WKR
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,613
Location
Central Illinois
I've gotten one of those calls and I don't prefer to get another one any time soon. I'm 35 now but when I was 26, the fiancé of one of my best friends (college roommate) called me while I was at work to let me know that Greg collapsed while playing beach volleyball at a local bar and didn't wake up.

He was in totally normal health. I believe he had some sort of heart condition when he was a small child but that was long behind him and he was totally normal in every way. He exercised and did activities the same as any other person. So something happened beneath the surface that no one expected.

I left work in the late morning and promptly proceeded to go buy a lot of beer and did my best to drink about all of them. Another good friend of mine came over and assisted in effort. I then had to call many people who his fiancé didn't know and tell them the news.

Greg and I lived about 2 hours apart so we didn't see each other often but talked regularly. We were both avid fisherman and I was fortunate that I had a pretty good fishing weekend about 2 months prior to his passing. He invited me on a Canadian fishing trip about 3 weeks before he died but I passed on the chance. We had a one year old at home and I did the whole "maybe next year" thing. I kind of regret that one.

Enough time has passed that I generally look back at happy memories and not so much sadness. But there's always some there. All part of living I suppose.
 

JoshB94

FNG
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
Messages
32
Anxiety from phone calls was something I never expected to have until after the worst call. From my dad, choking out my brothers name. They had hunted in Colorado the year prior and he went back by himself a few months ago for just a few hours to spread some of his ashes on the hill they hunted.
 
Joined
Nov 3, 2017
Messages
1,456
Location
AK
Don't like seeing this pop up today.

Watched my grandpa die from heart attack on New Year's Eve in 2001. Then had to help the paramedics haul my Dad out of the house at age 49 on New Year's Eve 2009 after his heart shut down - he survived by some miracle after a total of 58 shocks over 5 days. Both very healthy guys. Every NYE I wait for a call and about puke every time my phone rings. I also sit here wondering what year its my turn.
 

Missahba

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Messages
281
Location
Michigan
This has me tearing up. Tough thing to go through. On an objective note, I practiced law for years and not all the gun collections are handled with the respect and accountability the OP showed. My plan is to keep the safe uncluttered and lean, and make gifts of them in my trust.
 

4rcgoat

WKR
Joined
Dec 12, 2015
Messages
1,191
Location
wyoming
Sorry for your loss,i have a friend who is currently in intensive care in a induced coma,fungal meningitis is what ive been told. Makes you question things about yourself at times.
"We are eternal all this pain is an illusion "
 

Nykki

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
127
Location
Anchorage
My hunting partner of 40 years passed away in October, I was out of town working and was out of cell service. Got home the day before his funeral. He was 85 and we had a lot of fun moose hunting over the years. His wife wants me to go through his gun collection this coming summer,it's going to be tuff.
 

FLAK

WKR
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
2,287
Location
Gulf Coast
Just heard the other day about the passing of an ex girlfriend.
A year younger than me.
Talk about a slap of reality.
 
Joined
Jul 24, 2014
Messages
454
Location
Ogden, UT
I got a pacemaker unexpectedly on Christmas eve 2015. I was 33 at the time and in great shape. Two weeks later, my wife called me at work to tell me my dad collapsed unexpectedly. I got to the ER just in time for the doc to come out and tell us he passed away from a massive heart attack.

We was in failing health but we managed to get one last elk hunt in before he passed. It was his best bull.

In August of 2019 my grandpa (dad's dad) who had been battling bladder cancer for years, tried a new chemo and it put him in the hospital. My cousin called and told me his heart gave out. Luckily I was there for his last successful hunt too.

Its been rough ever since. My dad and grandpa gave me my passion for the outdoors and hunting. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I could call them and tell them how my day went or ask them to tell me old hunting stories.20171019_185521.jpgIMG_20151007_181654059_HDR.jpg
 

JeffP_Or

WKR
Joined
Jul 1, 2020
Messages
318
Location
PDX
It can be tough; sorry for your loss. Think about him each time the date passes.

In January 2017 I got the call from the wife of a college buddy; died of cancer after beating it once. We didn't spend a lot of time together but he was one of a very few that had kept in contact since graduating school in 1989. Flew to Michigan and spoke at his servive within the week. Didn't know his wife all that well even though I was best man in their wedding in 2012.
 
Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
1,226
I got the call November 4th 2010 from my dad telling me my youngest brother was dead. He had accidentally been shot. I’ll never forget the sound of my dads voice during that call. I raced over to where it had happened and tried to get in the door but the police grabbed me and wouldn’t let me. He had just turned 19. I’m thankful we got a backpack bow hunting trip in that august and always think about the trips we’d be doing today if he was still here.
 
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