To the vfb friends, This is the letter Jack Dennis sent out to friends of Gary LaFontaine. Of course, not all are on his email list, so he allowed me to post this to the vfb so that many more of Gary's friends could know more about the passing of a special person.
I'll be headed to Denver in a minute, so any questions or replies will be answered Sunday evening. Since this letter, as you know, Gary has passed away. There's a second letter from Jack that I'll post also. DonO > I'm sorry that this letter is a little late in coming as I have been buried > in Video projects and working on my show travels. > > Mike Lawson and I visited Gary la LaFontaine the first week of December in > the nursing home in Missoula. He had really spiraled downhill since summer > with complications from medicine and now breathing. He has become very weak > and has moved into the final stage of ALS. Gary decided not to prolong the > misery and choose not to go on the respirator. He feels that the end is > within the next month and is resigned himself to prepare for the end. He has > chose to go on a morphine drip when the end is near so he won't suffer as > much at the end of his life. The chilling reality of a death caused by his > inability clearing his air passage and drowning on his fluid has been > weighting heavy on Mike and I as we did not want our friend to suffer. The > morphine will help > > Mike and I spent the day with Gary laughing, crying, telling tales of our > years of adventures and our unyielding friendship. It was a wonderful few > hours of saying good-bye > to a cherished friend who is a part of our family. It was one of the > toughest things Mike and I have ever done and we drew strength from each > other. It was hard to leave. In spite of his weaken state he told jokes and > look forward to getting out one more newsletter. > He made us feel so comfortable as he talked of his death and his life and how > he wanted to be remembered. > We relived so many wonderful times and left feeling refreshed to having known > Gary. We may be able to see him again, God willing, if not we have said our > good-byes. Gary has continued to weaken since our visit. > > Gary is very much at peace with himself and his room is full of life with > pictures of his life and his family and friends. The staff has grown to love > him and treats him with respect and dignity. > > Gary said he has received so much in mail and love from his fly fishing > friends that because of the support he has found the courage to face his > fate. > > I will continue with updates has I receive them. Till then keep Gary in your > prayers! > Jack Dennis
