Acquaintances and Friends Dying Too Young

[street]

I do check into a couple of funeral home obituary pages to check on area deaths. It amazes me how many people I have known or friends that have passed away in the last year. Since retiring (5 years) there has been so many it is actually scary. Living in a small rural area it maybe more noticeable because at some time so many have touched each other lives one way or another.

Just today found out one guy had a stroke (67) and another guy (65) that I have know for years, also is not in good shape with a health issue. Both these guys are very successful business men and have lead very healthy life styles.

I can go on and on of the young folks I have seen pass on under 70 years old in the last 5 to 6 years.

Anyone else pay attention to the obits and find the same results of friends passing on to young and so many?

 

[ejman]

Well, after being very, very sick at age 70 last year I read the obits to see if my name is there. So far so good.

 

[MRG]

Boy that hits home. A wonderful guy left this world last month, 65. He was a cow*rker who just made the world a little better. Is only learned of his diagnosis from another former peer, a guy I've known most of my life.

We talked a few times and he was pretty shocked when I first called but it was good. He told me another buddy had passed a few years back, probably not 50, from the flu.

 

[Freedom56]

I don't look through the obituaries. Los Angeles County has a population of almost 10 million. Every time I speak to my parents they tell me who they know passed away. They are in their mid 80's. I usually change the topic to something more cheerful like being locked up for a year around home.

 

[street]

I don't look through the obituaries. Los Angeles County has a population of almost 10 million. Every time I speak to my parents they tell me who they know passed away. They are in their mid 80's. I usually change the topic to something more cheerful like being locked up for a year around home.

Lol! I like that and yes not a fun topic to talk about. I remember my folks telling me the same thing, just about every time we talked also.

 

[Souschef]

I used to go to an alumni website for a company I worked for from 71 to 85. They had an In Memorium page for all that had passed away. A lot of them were my coworkers. I had to stop going there as it was so depressing.

 

[razztazz]

I do from time to time. Not snooping out obits but more informal. Look to see if so-and-so from the old days has a Facebook page or just look to see if somebody's made some local news story in the past 20 or so years. Also, check the Alumni section of my High School every few years.

Lots of Short-Timers, unfortunately. Found out in 2016 a former love of my life had died in 2010. Age 55. Had not married. Downer. Swore I'd start spending more money on myself but didn't.

 

[Hyper]

I do check into a couple of funeral home obituary pages to check on area deaths. It amazes me how many people I have known or friends that have passed away in the last year. Since retiring (5 years) there has been so many it is actually scary. Living in a small rural area it maybe more noticeable because at some time so many have touched each other lives one way or another.

Just today found out one guy had a stroke (67) and another guy (65) that I have know for years, also is not in good shape with a health issue. Both these guys are very successful business men and have lead very healthy life styles.

I can go on and on of the young folks I have seen pass on under 70 years old in the last 5 to 6 years.

Anyone else pay attention to the obits and find the same results of friends passing on to young and so many?

We are on two groups for "classmates of (yr)". Obits past 5 yrs has been unbelievable and we are in our early 50's! Definitely makes you wonder if your next.

 

[aja8888]

My BIL died this last Easter Sunday after we had an hour long phone call together the day before. He was 75 and one of my best friends. Kidney failure.

Two close friends in Connecticut died within a month of each other in 2019 just after I was visiting them on a week long trip. One had a bad stroke, the other had pancreatic cancer and didn't know it until it was too late.

 

[street]

We are on two groups for "classmates of (yr)". Obits past 5 yrs has been unbelievable and we are in our early 50's! Definitely makes you wonder if your next.

I know it. I can't remember the year but I believe 2019 I counted 20 plus people I knew, some very well, all died under the age of 65.

 

[Bamaman]

My brother in law is from an extremely affluent small southern city, and most of his high school friends chose to stay there after college.

It's the kind of place where the city's most visible citizens have a block party a few nights per week, and too many are alcoholics. And that was the parents.

Doctors, lawyers, farmers, a tractor dealer, real estate barons, dry cleaners and dump truck owners. They're all dying around age 70. Only one friend's left, and he's 71 years old.

And the last two smokers that were friends both died of Lung Cancer last year. Neither knew they had cancer until they were terminal Stage IV.

Reminds me of when my wife interviewed for a job at a hospital in Buckhead. Their patients were not the normal run of the mill sick. Their biggest number of ailments came from GI Bleeders--very high income alcoholics.

I think I'll continue to be a teetotaler who tries to maintain my health.

 

[harley]

The only reason I've got a Facebook account is so I can find out if anyone I know has died. I've lost touch with so many people over the years, what with having moved so often up through my post college years. But I still have a few FB friends from each group, and eventually the news will filter down to me. It's always a shock when I do find out.

 

[RobbieB]

I've never looked at obits and I never will. If it's someone I know, someone will tell me.

 

[latexman]

About 5 years back my best friend went to the ER for fever, chills, and bad cough. At worst he thought it was pneumonia. 7 days later he died from esophageal cancer.

That really hit me hard!

 

[FlaGator]

It happens, ask my late wife-gone in her mid-50’s[emoji853]

Lost some friends along the way, all before 60.

If you wake up, it’s a good day[emoji2]

 

[momoftwo]

Im hit by this too.
A neighbor age 71, passed away within 3 months. Strokes and cancer. She was a model healthy person. Ate well, exercised consistently year round, got all medical checkups.
She was kind of a role model for me as a newly retired 60's women defining the rest of my life.
I will miss her greatly.

 

[truenorth418]

One of my best friends from college died 2 years ago from anti-immune disorder age 56. Good friend from high school died last year after emergency surgery age 57. I had reconnected and spent time with both of them in recent years, so shocking and sad.

A reminder to try to enjoy your life while you can, and appreciate what you have.

 

[old medic]

I'm only 57 and have lost to way many friends and relatives to young over the years.
And my line of work exposes me to this fact on a regular basis.
Out of my paramedic class, almost half have passed away, and just 2 of us still working...
And he becomes the last Mohican in Dec when I retire....

 

[Bamaman]

I look at the Obituaries every morning in the local newspaper.

And if my name is not in there, it's going to be a great day.

 

[misanman]

I work occasionally at the local funeral home. What bothers me is the number of young and relatively young people who die, often from OD or liver failure due to excess alcohol consumption. Such a waste of potential. There was a young person (mid 20's) this week who was working on a phd who OD'd.

 

[Montecfo]

When I read and hear about people dying suddenly of heart attack I feel blessed to have survived one---15 years ago.

 

[pb4uski]

A really great guy in my summer Thursday golf group died yesterday, so this topic is hitting pretty close to home. RIP Brent.

 

[street]

^ yes, and not even considering the OD's or suicide's. I have known many of them also, or their parents. So sad!!

 

[Koolau]

Yes, I keep pretty close track on my old home town's obituaries since I lived there (within 10 miles of my birth place) for 60 years before moving to Paradise (the unofficial one ). Not a week goes by that I don't see someone I knew personally or w*rked with or was in HS with or bought from their business, etc. etc. who has passed.

Not all are young, of course. I see 90+ year old folks who were parents of class mates or maybe uncles, etc. But I knew them at least in passing.

One of my classmates has assumed the mantle of class historian but he lives in AZ. I've reported to him perhaps half a dozen class mates's deaths in the last few years - just by tracking the obits in the old paper (conveniently on line.) We are now past 100 deaths in a class of 500. Eventually, I'll miss one of my old class mates' names - and it will be MINE. Just the nature of the beast as none of us gets out of here alive. Sort of downer subject, but good to think about as it motivates us to prepare (getting things in order, getting rid of stuff, doing it NOW and remembering what's important - such as family.) YMMV

Thanks, street!

 

[Walt34]

I maintain membership in an alumni association and they send out a notice when a member dies. It can be a bit depressing at times but it is of course inevitable. So far the human mortality rate is 100%. No fractions, no decimals. Bummer.

I am trying to be a leech on my former employer's pension plan for as long as possible, hopefully dying at the age of 95 after being shot and killed by a 20-year-old jealous husband.