REST IN PEACE...ROB

Cindy & I got word yesterday that an acquaintance of ours had died about 2 weeks ago. Rob and his family lived in Lafayette in the early and mid ‘90s and then moved to Ohio.

Rob was involved with the ROTC at Purdue while also working at another job in Lafayette. I believe his wife Carol was a dental assistant for a period of time while they lived here. Their son and daughter were very small when here, several years younger than our girls.

We met Rob, Carol, Robert and Beth at First Baptist Church where we attended for many years. At that particular time, we had a good group of adults our age and a close Sunday School class that got together monthly for a meal and games and activities. The guys played on a softball team together and Rob was the coach for a year or two. Rob and Carol sang in the church choir and attempted to be very active in the church. When they moved to Ohio, we seemed to lose touch with them except for an occasional note about them that might get posted in the church newsletter.

While their family was on vacation in June 2008 in Yellowstone, Rob developed some problems on his left side. They eventually went to a nearby hospital, had a CT and MRI and were told Rob had a tumor on the right side of his brain. The family returned home to Columbus and a biopsy discovered Rob had a Glioblastoma Multiforme tumor of the brain. It is the most common and most aggressive type of brain tumor. Even with aggressive therapy, the average survival time is less than 1 year.

Over the next 15 months, Rob had surgery, chemo, radiation, and physical therapy to hopefully remove and kill the tumor and help Rob regain his physical skills. Rob’s friends, family and church family worked hard to help get them to appointments and the many ordeals they had to go through.

Apparently one goal they all shared was to celebrate Rob’s upcoming 50th birthday in October 2009. As the day approached, Rob took a dramatic turn for the worse and was placed on hospice care. As the family was told that Rob’s death was imminent, his children hoped he could make it to 12:01am on the day of his birthday so they could celebrate with him. In a terribly sad irony, Rob died at 8:07pm, the evening before. They decided he was going to have his birthday with God.

I suppose we all have people such as Rob and Carol and children in our lives. People we know, or have known, but aren’t particularly close to. But sometime during our lives, our paths crossed and we shared some common events with one another.

Even though we didn’t remain close to Rob and Carol, hearing about their challenge does make you appreciate life a little more, friendships a little more, and hope for the very best for them.

With the love and support of their family and friends, Carol, Robert and Beth will go on. The hurt of missing Rob will be severe for all of them. Robert, 19, and Beth, 14, loved their father. They are much too young to have lost an important figure like him in their lives. But he would want them to carry on, and they will.

Carol had dedicated most of her days caring for Rob since his illness in those last 15 months. Love between a couple gets amazingly strong during those times. There is, surely, mixed blessings for Carol, knowing that Rob is no longer in pain or suffering, but he also isn’t there physically any longer, either.

I will recall fondly our times years ago…with Rob and Carol...and our other church friends. Those friends at that time helped Cindy and I a lot. We shared many laughs and offered support to one another and those times will be fondly remembered.

Rest in Peace Rob…and for Carol, Robert and Beth…may God’s peace strengthen you during this time.


Dan