Weldon was born in Cambridge, Idaho December 15, 1936 to Bill and Gladys Reed. He had two brothers, Duane and Kenny whom he survived. They were a very close family. I can remember having Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma’s house. She would set-up a table that would take up her entire living room so everyone could sit down. All three boys and their families were there. My dad loved all of the family get-togethers. We always had homemade noodles and he kept that tradition going when my grandma couldn’t do it anymore.
He moved to Portland when he was 6. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1954. He was in the Navy for 4 years. He and Kenny had a boat and spent a lot of time on the river water skiing. Apparently, he was very good at water skiing. Mike, my husband, was very impressed when he skied behind our boat 20 years older. He married my mom in 1962, they divorced in 1979 and he never remarried. He had 2 daughters me and my sister Lisa. He went to our games, practices and all of our activities. He was involved. He worked for the telephone company, first PW Bell and then AT&T until he took early retirement buyout we believe in 1987. He then started golfing several times per week, watching grandkids several times a week, going to every event possible and built a wood working shop. He made windmills, a water wheel and various other things. He had triple bypass heart surgery a couple years after he retired. We always joked that his heart would be an upgrade since they were taking the veins from his Popeye calves; his calves were very big for being a small guy because he walked 18 holes of golf every time he played. We were right; he never had to repeat the bypass surgery which on average has to be repeated after 15 years (I have to say that scared me a bit when I read that); his heart didn’t stop until the very end. After surgery he quit smoking, started eating better; pepperoni pizza, pepsi and popcorn was less often and he continued golfing. Oh and of course was a very active grandpa. He had 4 grandchildren, Jason, Kristy, Josh and Caleb. He babysat, went to all of their events from baseball, basketball, football, swimming, volleyball and cheerleading. Went to a lot of the practices too and even coached. He went to school activities when he could and never never missed a birthday party until this year.
He and his brother Duane golfed together multiple times a week. They went to all different golf courses. They both were Pleasant Valley members, it doesn’t exist anymore. They went as far as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to play golf. They had a lot of fun together. He had had trouble with his back and legs for quite a few years, but really didn’t complain. Although I remember as a kid when his back was really bothering him he kind of walked crocked with one shoulder drooping. A Dr. suggested running some tests, they discovered an aortic aneurism by accident and if it had ruptured would have killed him. He had surgery and this is when we discovered he should be given morphine. He was recovering in the hospital and called me at 10pm. He said I better go get Lisa and hurry because he was going to die. That was a very startling phone call. I scared Lisa half to death. We got there and found out he was having a hallucination that a white van had backed up into his hospital room and was going to kidnap and kill him. He had called 911 to report this very real incident and insisted they send someone. We had lots of laughs about that. He remembered it and always said how real it felt while shaking his head and chuckling. He said that recovery was harder than the open heart surgery, but did he let us help him when he went home. Nope. After he recovered he continued golfing and got his handicap to about 6-8 until the carotid artery surgery in 2005, which was to try to prevent a stroke, but resulted in one that disabled his left hand. He did a lot of physical therapy and a few medical trials, but his left hand never improved. That didn’t stop him though; he kept golfing and even said he beat a couple of his friends one-handed, not Duane though. He talked about going to California and taking lessons from a pro golfer that had lost use of a hand due to a stroke. I am not sure why he decided not to. He found other things to do, climb on his roof to try to seal his skylight or clean out his gutters, lost his wallet up there once, still did the woodworking, Josh and Caleb both enjoyed doing that with him, he had a small garden, he wanted to continue to make Thanksgiving/Christmas Eve dinner for all of us which included making homemade noodles himself, help with Malia, still went to ball games and when his grandkids were no longer participating in activities he found others. I know he went to Kaitlyn’s, Duane’s granddaughter, Shawn’s daughter softball games and golf tournaments. He even went to the nearby park and watched the kids play baseball/softball when he lived over by Normandale Park. Oh and of course he was still driving which didn’t bother us until the last couple of years.
He was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2015 with 2 surgeries and radiation, then a bad reaction to a medication that put him into rehab for 4 weeks in 2016. Right before they were transferring him to rehab, he had a massive stroke that luckily was reversed with TPA. We honestly thought we were going to lose him that day. When they were able to transfer him to rehab several days later gave him morphine for the trip. Not a good idea. As they rolled him into the facility he saw bikers lined up with knives, people staring at him and saying things. When they got him into his room, he kept seeing things that weren’t there. He was getting really mad that I couldn’t see them too. He insisted that he was not going to stay and demanded that I take him home which wasn’t possible in his condition. I honestly didn’t recognize him, I was so worried that the rehab people would think that is who he was; someone difficult and mean. The morphine wore off and then they got to know the real him. You would walk down the hallway with him and everyone said hi to him. He seemed to become a favorite wherever he went. He broke his pelvis in spring of 2017 while trying to kick the lawn mower to lower it only to fall on some bricks. Somehow he crawled into his house this included stairs and called us. He told us that he was pretty sure that he broke something, but it didn’t hurt that much. He wasn’t able to have surgery and was non-weight bearing for 6 weeks. He spent 4 weeks in rehab and 2 weeks at my (Tracie) house before returning home to his mobile home. I think the only reason he agreed to come to my house was because Mike was going to be there with him. The different rehabs would give him cognitive tests that he would fail because he thought they were stupid. I swear he answered the questions wrong on purpose just to be funny. By this time, he was already on the list to move into Parkview Independent living, but they were sure he needed assisted living, maybe even a nursing home. They didn’t know my dad very well. He went back to his mobile home, recovered and waited for Parkview to call. They did turn in his license for suspension due to the stroke. We thought that this would end his driving; we were hoping any way, by this time he made us nervous. Well he took the written test and passed it that summer. Then took the driving test which he failed, but the instructor suggested that he try again. We couldn’t believe it, what was this instructor thinking? He took it again that December and he passed. He was so excited. So we decided if DMV approved him to drive we just needed to accept it.
He finally got the call to move into Parkview. He had been on the list for about 1-1/2 years. We had looked at assisted living communities in 2017 for him to possibly move into just to make his life easier. Have you ever tried to make a bed or even put on your pants with only one hand and he had been doing it for 12 years. He wouldn’t hear of it. He and His high school friend, Frank was on the list together and that is where he was going to live even if it meant waiting. There is a putting green here you know. Frank didn’t move in, but my dad did in February of 2018. It was amazing how many people he already knew. He and Frank had been coming and having meals for awhile. Everyone was so kind and friendly. I remember bringing him back from rehab during lunch time and when everyone saw him they all clapped. He had told me that would happen and said he wasn’t looking forward to it, but the look on his face told a different story. He loved it from the beginning. He was on blood thinners and it didn’t take much for him to bleed. There were several times it looked like a murder seen because he wanted to try to take care of it himself and by the time he called one of us, there was usually blood everywhere. It’s not easy opening a band aid with one hand. He was successful at times. He would tease that he needed to invest in band aide stocks. A few months ago, a Parkview friend tripped after playing bean bag baseball and even though he wasn’t always steady himself, he tried to help stop the fall. They both went down and my dad ended up breaking his hip. We joked that he needed to learn to jump out of the way, but that just isn’t who he is. If he had to do all over again, he would have done the same. There is no way he could just let someone fall. His brain would say no, his reflexes would just do it anyway. A few days later after surgery he had a major heart attack. Although all he complained about was that he was having trouble breathing, most would have passed out. We were standing right there with the Dr. and based on the symptoms he was seeing didn’t think he was having a heart attack until the blood tests came back. He went rehab planning to go back home to independent, but it was obvious the recovery was going to take longer so he made the decision to move over to assisted living. This wasn’t something he wanted to do, because he loved it at independent. His goal was to move back and it was his motivation as well. He had a couple setbacks, but by the end of August he was walking with his cane by himself to the dining room despite the pain. He wasn’t giving up no matter how hard it was. Assisted living did make things easier. He was getting to know more people as well as the caregivers. He had a couple of favorites by now and they told us they were attached to him even though they tried not to be. He acknowledged that it might be OK not to move back, but he still wanted to be able to walk over to independent on his own. He really missed playing bean bag baseball on Tuesdays and Saturdays and eating with his friends where there was lots of laughing.
It may seem like I mentioned all of his health issues, but it isn’t the incidents. They unfortunately happened; it is how he dealt with each one. How he never let any of them get him down and he always did more than expected during recovery with a smile on his face and a really good attitude. The therapists always said how much they enjoyed working with him and were amazed by how hard he worked knowing how much pain he was probably in. It reminded them of why they like their job. Once he recovered, he didn’t dwell, feel sorry for himself or ask why. Unfortunately, he had a stroke on August 30th and again on September 2nd. He decided it was too much to recover from, he did try, but even sitting on his own or standing was close to impossible. He wanted to go home. He never lost his sense of humor never once did he really complain or get depressed. He had accepted it. He talked to Gary about having his memorial at Parkview. Making sure we knew where all his papers were and letting us know it was time to sell the car. One of us had to be with him all the time including overnight. I really kind of think he enjoyed all the attention and company. This was never something he would have allowed during any of his previous recoveries. He knew his time was short. I am so thankful for this community and the friends he made. You were so caring and kind to him and to us. We couldn’t have had this special time with him without the amazing caregivers and Shawn’s help. I know he loved that you were there. We are so grateful to all of you for making his last week’s so special. Knowing how much he was loved is so comforting. He was without a doubt important to everyone who knew him. He was kind, caring, positive and real. There was nothing fake, he didn’t ever pretend. What you saw was who he was. He was always willing to help and always had a smile. We will miss you dad. We know that you will always be looking out for us and we know we will see you again.
He is survived by his daughter’s Tracie and Lisa, son-in-law Michael, grandkids, Jason, Kristy, Josh and Caleb and great grandkids, Malia, Jaxon and Ava. I know Shawn he thought of you as one of his daughters too.
Partager l'avis de décès
v.1.8.18