Not A Good Last 30 Days
The last 30 days or so has brought what I hope to be a finite amount of sorrow.
On Saturday night during the Texas Independence Relay, we received word that Edwin's father, Haywood Quarles, had passed away from his battle with lymphoma.
Two weeks later, one of our TIR teammates, John Maloney, got a call on a Friday night that his daughter, Allison, was critically injured in a car accident on the way to the Rodeo Houston performance of Taylor Swift. She would succumb to those injuries the following afternoon at Ben Taub Hospital.
Last week, I received news from my Dad, through a work associate, that a former co-worker and family friend, Geenita Sturdivant, had lost a 2-year battle to pancreatic cancer. She and her husband, Morris, were two of many individuals who had helped me as a young Patient Financial Services professional while I worked for American Medical International (AMI) in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s.
And just last night, on the drive home from watching Cassie and others compete in Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, I got a call from Lance Phegley of RTN/ITR that Kent Wells, one of Gary Mulvihill's timers with Run Wild Sports, suffered a heart attack while he was on a post-race run at the Lone Star Triathlon Festival on Sunday.
I hadn't heard anything more today, but saw former HARRA president Tom Stilwell's Facebook message that a group was going to gather for an informal 4-mile run on Saturday at Memorial Park of one of Kent's favorite routes.
Here is the note that I received from Tom just about an hour ago:
Sorry you found out this way. I was sure you knew.
This is what I know from talking to people who were timing the race with him as well as from talking to the doctors.
Kent was timing the Lone Star Triathlon -- specifically he was helping with the half iron half marathon portion late in the afternoon on Sunday. His segment of the course had been completed, and he decided to go for a run. He was running on the course and came up on a water station.
He started complaining of chest pains, and went down at or near the water station. They called 911. EMS arrived and Kent was unconscious and had no pulse. They worked on him and transported him to the airport. They life flighted him to Hermann Hospital, working on him in the helicopter. He arrived and they worked on him about another 30 to 40 minutes and called it.
The doctors told us about 6:45 pm on Sunday evening. His brother and Uncle are in town and are trying to take care of some of the arrangements. He will be buried where he grew up and where his family still lives in Arkansas.
People are contributing pictures to an album at:
http://gallery.me.com/scottwonderly#100030&bgcolor=black&view=grid
If you don't know who Kent is, you may have recognized him at races in the timing tent as he had a large strawberry over his left eye.
But he is one of the nicest people anyone could have ever met.
I would see Kent at numbers of races and talked to him at length at the YMCA Trail Run 5K in Conroe as well as last October's Huntsville Half Marathon.
His pleasant personality and kindness will most definitely be missed in the Houston running community.
On Saturday night during the Texas Independence Relay, we received word that Edwin's father, Haywood Quarles, had passed away from his battle with lymphoma.
Two weeks later, one of our TIR teammates, John Maloney, got a call on a Friday night that his daughter, Allison, was critically injured in a car accident on the way to the Rodeo Houston performance of Taylor Swift. She would succumb to those injuries the following afternoon at Ben Taub Hospital.
Last week, I received news from my Dad, through a work associate, that a former co-worker and family friend, Geenita Sturdivant, had lost a 2-year battle to pancreatic cancer. She and her husband, Morris, were two of many individuals who had helped me as a young Patient Financial Services professional while I worked for American Medical International (AMI) in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s.
And just last night, on the drive home from watching Cassie and others compete in Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, I got a call from Lance Phegley of RTN/ITR that Kent Wells, one of Gary Mulvihill's timers with Run Wild Sports, suffered a heart attack while he was on a post-race run at the Lone Star Triathlon Festival on Sunday.
I hadn't heard anything more today, but saw former HARRA president Tom Stilwell's Facebook message that a group was going to gather for an informal 4-mile run on Saturday at Memorial Park of one of Kent's favorite routes.
Here is the note that I received from Tom just about an hour ago:
Sorry you found out this way. I was sure you knew.
This is what I know from talking to people who were timing the race with him as well as from talking to the doctors.
Kent was timing the Lone Star Triathlon -- specifically he was helping with the half iron half marathon portion late in the afternoon on Sunday. His segment of the course had been completed, and he decided to go for a run. He was running on the course and came up on a water station.
He started complaining of chest pains, and went down at or near the water station. They called 911. EMS arrived and Kent was unconscious and had no pulse. They worked on him and transported him to the airport. They life flighted him to Hermann Hospital, working on him in the helicopter. He arrived and they worked on him about another 30 to 40 minutes and called it.
The doctors told us about 6:45 pm on Sunday evening. His brother and Uncle are in town and are trying to take care of some of the arrangements. He will be buried where he grew up and where his family still lives in Arkansas.
People are contributing pictures to an album at:
http://gallery.me.com/scottwonderly#100030&bgcolor=black&view=grid
If you don't know who Kent is, you may have recognized him at races in the timing tent as he had a large strawberry over his left eye.
But he is one of the nicest people anyone could have ever met.
I would see Kent at numbers of races and talked to him at length at the YMCA Trail Run 5K in Conroe as well as last October's Huntsville Half Marathon.
His pleasant personality and kindness will most definitely be missed in the Houston running community.
posted by WalkSports.com | 9:53 PM
1 Comments:
Sorry for the lose's of your love ones. My prayers are with you.
Post a Comment
<< Home