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07/07/2004: ""

I don't know why I think of him as a "gentle giant", when he couldn't have been any taller than me. But he was physically imposing, gruff but soft-spoken, and he seemed tireless and uncomplaining, through the chronic aiments that changed his lifestyle, and through the cancer that ate up his life. I saw him one last time, whe he came down to the fairgrounds in the spring with his family, and he seemed the same. He said little, his handshake was strong, his gaze was direct, his countenance was sad. We all knew. Not long after that they made their first franic trip to the hospital with him, and I can't even imagine what these last two months have been like. To me it seems like the end came rapidly; to them it must feel like it stretched out interminably. But now, one life is over, and all these others, changed forever.