Steve B > wrote in message
...
> For those of you who might be home caring someone:
>
> Fred Belmont Hardin (Old Fred the Welder) died at my home yesterday
> morning.
> He was 86. He was a lifelong welder, and probably forgot more about it
> than
> I will ever learn. He could stick weld two aluminum beer cans together.
> But, he also fabricated some pretty unusual stuff, some of it for Mall of
> The Americas. He was a reserve police officer, a retired EMT, and retired
> tow operator.
>
> He fed a lot of hungry souls, put them up for the night when their cars
> were
> broke down, got a lot of people back on the highway with just his address
> and the trust that they would send him the money for repairs, and pulled
> many a person out of a ditch for free. He was a successful businessman,
> but
> just barely because he had such a big heart and little killer attitude.
> One
> of the guys who was there first and last to leave, and out in the rain
> instead of under the cover.
>
> He was also a hell of a cook, starting out at 17 in the Army.
>
> We had him for a year and a day after he found out he had terminal cancer,
> and we invited him to come stay with us. He was only really sick for a
> month. The hospice people were super who came every day. Even the
> Medicare
> and Medicaid people who brought him a hospital bed and all sorts of
> hospital
> stuff. Hats off to those angels who work for hospice.
>
> They brought lots of morphine, but only at the end did he ask for it,
> realizing that it would hasten his departure. He made his peace with
> everyone and God, then left. He was scheduled to go to the hospice center
> Saturday, and did not want to go. But, we could not adequately care for
> him in his advanced condition. He wanted to pass at his home.
>
> I'll miss you, Fred. Thanks for everything.

A better summation and eulogy could not have been requested. Thanks for
sharing.

The Ranger