Dad died in his bed this morning. My mom called me at 5 this morning to let me know Dad was having trouble breathing and to let me know she was calling the ambulance to take my father to the hospital. I beat the ambulance to their house. He was snoring with much difficulty and was not awake. Within a minute or two of the paramedics arriving, no pulse could be found and, with my mom & I’s permission for an attempt to save his life, they were not able to revive him to take him to the hospital.

Dad was the anchor of our family even in these recent years having suffered a severe stroke in late June- early July of 2016. He overcame the odds and was able to recover for the most part. I don’t think I’ve seen him cry once in my whole life. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen him full of grief at my brother’s funeral and when any of us were in distress. He was always there to take care of all of us. Although I was a mama’s boy for the first 30 years of my life, my dad and I became much closer afterward. Dad was a person who was always there if one needed advice, whether it be finances, gardening, cooking, or anything else he had so much knowledge of. Years ago when I bought Gumby, my first Mercedes, he told me that if I didn’t buy it, he would. Shortly afterward, he had me look for one for him and Mom. I found him a newer one than mine and he loved that car. Dad was a frugal man and rarely bought anything many of us would consider frivolous. When he and Mom had a car accident, he told me to find him another one because that car saved their lives. Dad was so proud to be able to tell Jeffery Dale Chaddock that he bought that first Mercedes back in 2015.

Physically, Dad would never rival Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mentally, Dad had very few rivals. If he set his mind to getting something done, he did it. For a man who never got really hurt his whole life, Dad decided to really use up his health insurance these last 8 years. It’s not super fun to think about it, but he had to learn how to walk 5 times in his life: as a toddler, after his stroke in 2016, after he fell inside the house in 2017, after he tripped on the water hose while cleaning his Mercedes in 2018, and lastly after my parents’ car accident in late 2018. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone to have so many ambulance rides & life-flight helicopter rides. Maybe he just liked all the attention.

Those who ever visited my parents at their house knew how proud he was of their house, his gardens, and his cooking. Since his stroke, Dad never really gardened anymore and Mom had to take up the job of mowing the lawn. For a while there, Mom had to finally cook too until Dad finally took back over.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 64th anniversary last August. Throughout those years, they would travel extensively visiting distant countries and trying many different foods. Many of those trips were to France (some of it for study-abroad teaching and the rest for traveling), and the rest of Europe, and they dragged Eric & me along. The world travelers had to slow down after Dad’s stroke, but they had recently started traveling around the state to visit museums again.

These last few years, I would always stop by every weekend to go through a to-do list Dad and Mom would build up for me during the week. Surprisingly, this weekend and the last had almost nothing on it for me to do so we just mostly talked about nothing and everything. These last few years have been so nice getting to know them.
Dad loved the trees and all the wildlife around their house. Dad got to see his daffodils and many other flowers poke their blooms up this month. Knowing that gives me some solace.

It’s only been 7 hours since I started typing this and I already miss him so much! I love you Dad!

William Wrage’s obituary can be found here.