The Day Orlando Died
It was Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, and a beautiful day outside. We decided to finish the landscape area at the back of our property by putting down mulch. We went to Alco to get several bags to start the project. We assembled the tools needed and wheeled the bags to the back of the lot. After several more trips to Alco to get the needed mulch, and after spreading it all on the area, we got the job finished.
I heard the phone ringing and went in the screened porch to begin a conversation with daughter Cindy who lived in Peoria, Illinois, at the time. Orlando had wheeled the tools to the garage to put away.
After a little while I heard Orlando calling for me to come in the house as he was experiencing chest pains. I terminated the phone call and went in to find him in the recliner. He soon jumped up and dashed to the bathroom and threw up. When he returned he said, “You better call an ambulance as I’m having severe chest pains.” I made the call and in about ten minutes the ambulance had arrived. By that time he had again dashed to the bathroom. By then the local policeman was at the door followed by the ambulance crew. Orlando had passed out in the small bathroom and landed in the corner partly against the door. The crew got him out and on a gurney in the garage.
The men worked on him for a while and put him in the ambulance with the message they were taking him to a hospital in Wichita. Before they left he was not responding so they headed for Newton Medical Center. I closed up the house and followed in the car. I called Teresa and told her what was happening and soon she and Dennis and son Cade were there. She called Cindy to let her know where we were. Carolyn and Mark were called and headed our way from Salina, and arrived after Orlando had died.
Orlando was taken to an ER room and was examined by the doctor on call. By then friends Keith and Susan and Teresa and family were waiting with me in a private waiting room. After some time Teresa and I were called back to the examining room and soon heard the doctor announce the time of death at 4:00 p.m. Teresa called Cindy and told her what had happened.
News soon circulated at the hospital what had happened and before long there was a table full of people at home where we all gathered. During the night Cindy and Sandra and family drove straight through and arrived.
The next day and days after the phone was often ringing and doorbell chiming as people heard the news. Plans were made for a memorial service and reality set in. The life of our family was changed forever.
