Weldon

Weldon died Sunday. In hospital the evening before he was to have knee surgery he told me he had been working in his garage, standing on top of a low 2-step ladder, and fell. His neighbor called 911. 

After surgery on his knee he was taken to rehab. Some days later he fell again, began to have symptoms of head injury and was returned to hospital. Scans showed major brain trauma and he was whisked in for emergency surgery. He never awoke, lingered for a week, and died.

Weldon was an extraordinary man of a driven, independent nature, who never stopped working, never stopped moving. During the dozen years in the two churches we served together, he only sat still during the sermon. An officer of the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command early in life, he flew high in the skies above the Soviet Union. As a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary officer late in life, his was the first USCGA boat out after a hurricane, clearing inland waterways of debris. Weldon’s orientation was safety. It is almost impossible for me to visualize him standing on top of a short ladder, alone, with no one else around. A moment of expedience before safety cost him, family, friends, church and country very dearly.

Maybe knowing about his death will save the life of another. 

Googling safety slogans this morning yields 1,810,000 results in one-tenth of a second. My favorite:

   Tom+ in +Time