Details for funeral arrangements

Many of you were asking for details regarding the funeral arrangements for Pop-pop. Details will be in the Star Ledger (Thur & Fri), but here is what we know so far ...

Friday (2/29) - Viewing:

• First viewing time: 2 - 4pm
  
• Second viewing time: 7 - 9pm
  
• Location:
  

Madison Memorial Home
159 Main St, Madison

• for directions call: 908-852-2433

Saturday (3/1) - Funeral Service:

• Time: 8:45am
  
• Location: St. Rafael's Church, Mt. Pleasant Ave (Rt 10) in Livingston. Burial following the mass at Stanhope Cemetary.

Raymond F. Little 1918 - 2008

Pop-pop passed away this evening (2/25/2008) at 7:30 PM. He was surrounded by his family in his final moments, and he knew that we were there. It was both sad and beautiful at the same time. Hilary described it best when I called her to tell her the sad news. I'll paraphrase below:

He lived a healthy life for 89 years. He had his wits about him for his entire life. He raised a wonderful family, lived to see his first great-grandchild, and at the end, he got a chance to be surrounded by his loving family as he said good-bye. What more could you hope for at the end of your life?

I'll be scanning in some pictures of some of the highlights of Pop's life, and will post them to you either here or on VictorFamily.net.

To all those who have expressed concern for Pop, we thank you. It is wonderful to know just how much Pop was loved by all who were lucky enough to know him.

Love,
Jason

Pop is in Hospice Care

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been posting to this blog very often, mostly because all the news that I have been accumulating and seeing first-hand has been bad. And if you don't have anything positive to say, then ...

But I thought it was important to let everyone reading this know what's been going on the last week.

Pop's health has been declining. He is unable to keep his lungs clear on his own and keeps aspirating on his feeding tube, even though they had the PEG put in a while back. This has been causing him a lot of pain, so rather than go through another operation to put another tube into his small intestine, causing more pain and with very little hope of success, his doctors and the family agreed that it was time to put Pop into hospice care.

He could pass on any day now, and the family is together with him at St. Claire's in Dover, NJ. I know that there are many people reading this who may feel that they wished they could have found this information out another way, but so many people know and love Pop, and it was the only way I could think of to make sure everyone knew.

I've added a "Call me" button to the top-right portion of this blog. If you like, you can leave a voice-mail message to the blog to offer words of encouragement.

Thanks again to everyone who has offered words of encouragement and asked how he is doing throughout this ordeal. I know it may seem silly to be so surprised that an 89 year old man is in failing health, but he is my Pop-pop and I will always love him.

Love,
Jason

This week's updates - still at St. B's

Hi Everyone,

We had a big group visit Pop yesterday: Daniel, Mom, Dick, Nan, Hilary and Ben! They didn't allow Ben in the room (too many germs to exchange between the two), but we got a good visit in. He likes when you talk to him and Dick was reading a very exciting account of the first explorer's accounts of the Grand Canyon.

He opened his eyes more than last week, which was nice. He's also still got a firm grip. He likes when you hold his hands and if you let go, he shakes them and makes noise, gesturing for you to hold them. :) He was also trying to say something, but I couldn't make it out.

Medically, he still has congestion in his chest. I didn't speak to the respiratory therapist (See earlier picture of "Moe"), but it seemed to me like there was less gurgling going on. I don't know what that means, but we'll have to wait and see. Mom also makes sure that when she goes to visit that he gets suctioned both at the beginning and at the end of the visit; this helps rid him of the extra phlegm. (I hope you aren't reading this while you are eating).



We had a good visit with the family, as well, and we all went out to The Olive Garden and then back to Nan's house to watch Ben play with his toy truck. We think he said "I did it!" when he walked across the floor behind his toy truck. I have the video, but need to review the tape to see if that's really what he said.

I'll keep you all posted!

Jason