Heavenly Reunion

Ken's father, Zack's PaPa, passed away on Sept. 22nd near Beaumont, TX while fleeing from Hurricane Rita. I can only imagine the joy on his face when he was able to see, for the first time, his grown-up grandson Zack. The last time he had sight on Earth, Zack was just almost 5 years old. Although Ken's dad had a rough life at times, we really believe that he repented of his former life and received Christ in the past few years and that he is in Heaven now, joyous and whole, with Christ and his loved ones.

The following is Ken's account of the many blessings that were present amidst the sorrow and shock of losing his Dad. He wrote this to the great guys of the Savior's Sons back in The Woodlands, and also to some of our other close friends back home. -----


Guys,
I recently was in the Houston area (Texas City / La Marque), but not for a desired reason, namely my father's passing. Unfortunately with all the events, I didn't have time to visit with you guys, but want to relay the story of how God was working, even in the chaos that was my dad's death.

My dad passed away while trying to evacuate from Hurricane Rita, after 18 hrs in the car. He apparently had a heart attack while napping in the back-seat, not an issue of dehydration or overheating. Was snoring, then suddenly went quiet and was gone.

Here's the story:

My dad (Bob) was a blind, cantankerous, recovered alcoholic who lived with my mom Barbara - yes my wife and mother are both Barbara - in Texas City. He had been blind for a number of years (since '87), following a robbery / mugging where the attacker destroyed his eyes with the claw of a hammer. He was resistant to leaving the house, had never been to my sister's house in League City and generally chose to stay put for hurricanes. In the run up to Rita, I talked to my mom and sister and they said dad didn't want to leave, though my mom wanted to. As the
storm intensified in the GOM (Gulf of Mexico), my sister and her husband decided to try to force my mom and dad to evacuate with them to north east Texas and to board up my parents place with their leftover supplies. So off they went to Texas City.

When they got there, they asked dad about leaving, he said that he felt that they needed to leave. No opposition, no resistance - amazing. Mom gathered up various supplies and took a few precious treasures - including for some reason, this large photographic portrait of dad.
They headed up to my sister's in League City for dinner and to collect my nieces. Dad went to their house for dinner - the first time in 7 years he ever went to his daughter's house and was pleasant and enjoyed the meal (as it turns out the last real meal together).

They then headed out in 2 vehicles - my sister (Jan), niece (Lauren) and mom and dad in one. As Rita was supposed to hit Galveston / Matagorda, they were heading to my brother-in-law's parents' place up on the TX / LA border, north of Toledo Bend. Dad was conversing in the car,
seemingly enjoying himself, despite the slow crawl out I-10 east. In the early afternoon, dad was asking that they stop for a break, but there was not anywhere to stop, so he decided to nap and quickly fell asleep, snoring. After a little while, he fell silent. Mom checked on him and told Jan, that your daddy's gone. They pulled into the median of I-10, called the EMS and started CPR. EMS arrived, but dad was gone.

From here, the EMS transported the body with the 2 vehicles following to a hospital near where my sister just to work, so they were very familiar with the area. They contacted my brother, Larry in Louisiana, who used to be a funeral director. As time was growing short and the hospital was under orders to complete the evacuation of all patients and remains, Larry had to act quickly or dad's remains would be taken by FEMA. He called a funeral home he knew and arranged for them to pickup dad's body and have it prepared and transported up to Lufkin. All this happened, despite it supposedly not being able to happen. Also, Jan's vehicles were about out of fuel, but across from the hospital was a station still open with fuel, despite all the other ones they had seen being sold out. When they returned to the highway, traffic had cleared up remarkably.

They proceeded onward to East Texas, having to hurriedly say good-bye to dad, but mom had the portrait of him with her. At the place they evacuated to they lost phones, cell phones and electricity. We couldn't contact them for a couple of days. Then mom and John decided to head back, but the transmission went out in the back woods of East Texas,
late at night with no cell phone coverage. They set out flares and waited. Eventually, someone stopped, a guy with Verizon who had a GPS and a satellite phone. He called my brother and Larry drove over and rescued them. My mom then finally arrived home around sunrise. What a journey.

Now this all may seem tragic, but think about how God blessed us:
**Dad didn't resist going - if they had stayed, mom would have been all
alone in an evacuated town, when he passed on.
**Dad got to have dinner with all the family living nearby and was in a jovial, non adversarial mood.
**Dad passed away near a hospital that my sister knew well and passed without apparent trauma.
**They found a gasoline station that had supplies when others were out and their vehicles were nearly empty.
** My dad's body was able to be prepared and evacuated when there was no time to do so and our family was able to retain control of it.
**The traffic had cleared out, so they could quickly leave the area Mom had dad's portrait to console her while isolated in east Texas The person who came along that lonely road late at night, stopped, had a GPS and a satellite phone!

It seems like Dad knew something was up and God took care of the details.

I hope that all you and your families were spared from the effects of the recent hurricanes. Please let us know how you are doing.

View the Obituary for Ken's Dad aka PaPa