Blair Pittman Update 5-21-2015
We (Mary and Dwight Deal) visited Blair and Jean in Alpine, TX on our way north last week. Thanks to ALL of Blair's old friends who have expressed concern for his condition, and for your patience as the family sorts out this significant change of life. Recounting for those who may not know Blair well: Blair Pittman is a long-time Texas caver. A photographer, writer, newspaper man, and above all else, an entertaining story teller. He authored the coffee-table book The Caves of Texas as well as many other works. Now 78 years old, he was involved with the early exploration and development of Mayfield Cave (aka Caverns of Sonora) and has contributed to a lot more Texas caving lore since. For the past number of years he has been living as the caretaker at the old Waldron mercury mine in Terlingua, more recently known as the Villa de la Mina. Terlingua Sinkhole is next door. Cavers have always been welcome a his doorstep. Blair rolled his vehicle in March 2011. It took quite a while to get him to hospital in Odessa and he was seriously deprived of oxygen for a LONG time. He recovered but presents as a stroke victim (due to the lack of oxygen to his brain - he did not actually have stoke at the time of the accident). He is wheel-chair bound and on oxygen. Most frustratingly, multiple intubations physically damaged his vocal chords and his previously wonderful story-telling voice was reduced to a reedy, weak, almost whisper. It's hard to understand what he is saying. Blair did suffer a stroke in February 2015 and has slowly been recovering to his pre-stroke condition. He has good days and bad days, but when we visited last week his eyes sparkled as we swapped stories. Jean (his wife) Is still operating the exceptionally fine small bookstore in Alpine. They have both nursing day care and physical therapy help who come to the house to work with Blair. This provides needed relief to Jean, who has been expending enormous amounts of energy as Blair's caregiver. I have been worried for HER health. Jean has invited any of Blair's old friends who may be in the Big Bend to stop by. It is very healthy for Blair to see us. It also helps him recover lost or hazy memories from the past. Please contact Jean in advance so proper arrangements can be made, and to make sure that Blair's time is not otherwise scheduled. j...@fsbooks.com Jean Hardy-Pittman and Blair c/o Front Street Books 121 East Holland Ave Alpine, TX 79830 Alpine Store (Front Street Books) 432-837-3360 If you have some old pictures or memorabilia to bring and leave with Blair, so much the better. Plan on a half-hour to an hour, depending on how Blair is feeling. If it's a bad day, it may be a fairly short one-sided conversation with you talking to Blair. Even that is valuable and IS very good for him. I have told Jean that I will help find appropriate places for any of his old cave-related possessions when she decides to sort through them and dispose of unneeded items. I saw some old Texas Cavers and assorted cave photographs. I will let the proper folks know. Feel free to contact me (Dwight Deal) off line. dirt...@comcast.net, 303-632-9254 (Denver), or 432-371-3369 (Terlingua). We just got back to Denver and expect to be here into the fall, with excursions to the NSS convention in Missouri and later to the northeast. Dwight
_______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
