My Hospice square is dedicated to the memory of my father, Bud Weaver, and it is fitting that it is a bird. He delighted in all birds, although owls were his favorites. He and my mother had a bird feeder next to their dining room window to watch for the Painted Buntings that returned every year around their anniversary on October 14th. He saw them for the last time in October of 1991.

Daddy's voice was deep and rich and I still remember him reading to us when we were little. And with no radios in the cars back then, he used to sing as we rode the many miles between my grandparent's in Ohio and our home in Pennsylvania. He had a varied career, ending as a County Commissioner for twelve years where his voice was definitely an asset as he represented the rural area of Palm Beach County. It was going to be the source of his fatal cancer.

He was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in September of 1990 and underwent months of chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to control it. He opted not to undergo radical surgery which would have left him bed ridden due to other physical problems and without any voice. His stay with the inpatient Hospice facility in West Palm Beach, Florida in the last days of his life was a welcome respite from the hospital. It is a pleasant place in spite of the reason that patients are there and his room had access to the patio where there were plants and of course, birds. The staff was friendly and I am sure that he entertained them all. He left there to go home on a Monday and died shortly after. I have always been glad that his final words to me were "I love you."

As in the square, God gave him peace......

Pat Allums
St. Petersburg, Florida