There were two women in Virginia who were helpful, kind, amazing angels who helped us in various ways. One was Courtney who interacted with Ron at the Rehab Center where he spent his last three months. She interacted with him there frequently, along with many other people.
The other was Cathy who only interacted with his body at the hospital. Apparently Ron passed away in the ambulance between the Rehab Center and the hospital. Both Courtney and Cathy worked very hard for a long time to find a next of kin.
Courtney saw him regularly, and kept asking whether or not he had any family. He said he had no one. At one point, he did confess that long ago he had been married and had daughters, but that had nothing to do with his life now. So Courtney knew there had to be someone out there somewhere.
Cathy interacted with his body regularly, and was particularly interested in what happened to him because of her connection to the military. He was a veteran. She was an 'army brat'. Her father was a veteran, and various other family members. She did not want to see him end up with a 'pauper's burial', whatever that would involve.
So between them, and officials at Fairfax County, including a lawyer at one point, they searched. We were not as hard to find as he had been for us. Eventually they ran upon Michelle's name, who had repeatedly looked for him via the internet. Somehow they managed to find her current married name, and called her. And she had them call me, because she knew they would want my help. Thus began the flurry of phone calls among the sisters, me, Ron's brother, Cathy, and Courtney. Courtney later said that Michelle had "left the train of breadcrumbs' that allowed them to find us.
His body had already been in cold storage for almost three weeks. Cathy wanted to know if the daughters would like to view the body. I could not imagine that. Priscilla didn't seem to have a clear answer to that. Michelle immediately said yes, and then Priscilla realized that since she had not been able to see him most of her life, she at least wanted to see what he looked like in the end. So we determined that we would make the trip to Virginia to view the body.
All of this happened on a Saturday afternoon. I told Priscilla that we could leave on Sunday after church, and go to Virginia, do the things that had to be done on Monday, and drive back home on Tuesday. In the end, once that decision was made, my oldest daughter Brenda also decided that she would make the trip with us as well.
I made arrangements for cremation, for the funeral home to pick up the body, for them to have it ready for us to view on Monday morning. I made the arrangements for us to stay in a Holiday Inn Express not too far from the places we had to go----the Cremation Services Center, the Rehab Center and Fort Belvoir, where his car had been parked for a long time. I made all those arrangements.
Courtney had told us about the car. We imagined that it would be an old clunker, and we would have to find a way to get rid of it. I had researched some salvage places in case we needed to have it towed away. We contacted the Guest Housing quarters where he had been staying, and told them we were coming.
Cathy and Courtney both were a big part of this story. When I think of them, I am reminded that there are more good and kind people in the world than there are bad and evil ones.
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