Good morning, folks,

We suspected that the news would filter out from Pinewoods first, since Sandy's granddaughter, Linnea, is working there this summer. Yesterday marked 40 days since Sandy & Caroline's grandson, Kaelan, drowned. Sandy had been deeply grieving, since that time. We had all been concerned about him, but it was unclear how much of his condition was emotional & how much was physical. Last week, with Kaelan's memorial & the burial of his remains past, Caroline felt that Sandy needed to see his doctor. I drove the two of them to the office on Thursday afternoon, July 23rd. Sandy was unusually fatigued & was having wide variations in his blood oxygen with any activity. As soon as he saw him, Sandy's doctor called for an ambulance to take his to nearby Sharon Hospital (Sharon, CT) for observation. Sandy was checked into a room, after being observed in Emergency, & Caroline was told they'd like to keep Sandy for a few days. If I am remembering correctly what Caroline told me, the hospital called Saturday evening & said that Sandy wasn't doing well & they didn't know if he'd make it through the night. The family was able to go to the hospital that evening & spend time with Sandy. During the night, Saturday, he lost consciousness. During the day, on Sunday, family was in & out. Duane & I visited for a couple of hours in the early afternoon & said our goodbyes. When we returned for a second visit at about 7 pm, not wanting Sandy to be alone, his sister-in-law, Linda, gave us the news that he had passed from this life about a half hour earlier, at 6:32 pm on Sunday, July 26, 2009. We waited for Caroline to come & stayed with the family until they left. Sandy died peacefully, with no heroics, just lightly breathing until he drew his last breath. The cause will probably be listed as congestive heart failure. My first thought, when I heard that he was gone, was happiness for him. In recent times, his life had become more & more of a burden to him. Because of his emphasema, he had to be connected to oxygen all the time. His movements & activities were limited. Changes in his voice meant that he was no longer able to sing &, sometimes, even to make himself easily heard. He was broken-hearted over Kaelan's death. I feel sure that Sandy was content to leave.

Now, we pick up the pieces of life without him. Caroline has her two sons & her sister, all of whom live locally. She, also, has Duane & me. Together, we will be giving personal support & helping to get Folk Legacy onto a new chapter. Your support is needed. Although I have more that I'd like to say, I'll end this, for now, to give you the basic information. Since phone is the only way Caroline can conduct business, I might suggest that you send condolences by mail, for now, to give us time to get up-to-date on the backlog of orders, due to Kaelan's death & Sandy's health. As is the family custom, Sandy's passing will be marked by a memorial gathering at some time in the future. Sing your songs for him, folks! A great man has passed.