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There’s Nothing I Can’t Do
I
have written and rewritten this. Now I throw that away and type it like it is.
Sad
words: It might have been.
Misery: It shouldn’t have happened.
Tear
out a heart: I have lost my child.
The
Memorial Service for my son, Fred Duane Cheshire, took place on September 30th
at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Glendale.
If I had not been numbed, I would have considered it a beautiful
Service. 
Pastor Peter, a
friend of Fred’s, spoke loud and clear. He
called Fred “a Bridge Builder.” He said: “Fred looked around and saw gaps that needed
bridging. . . . computer know-how . . . social activities . . . language skills
. . . tutoring . . . cultural togetherness . . . citizenship . . . He brought
people together with what interested them and excited them and he shared those
passions.”
Dan, as one of his
caretakers, gave us stories that came about due to Fred’s needs as a
quadriplegic. Fred pushed the envelope
and Dan rescued him in ways that sounded funny when told after the disaster was
over.
I kept my tears away
long enough to tell about Fred’s life growing up: his eagerness to learn about everything
including rocks, stamps, chess, science fiction, Spanish and people. He earned his degrees from Phoenix College
and A.S.U., married Sue and took to teaching like a duck to water at Royal Palm
Jr. High.
To our way of
thinking, his death should not have happened.
A routine sinus procedure to help him breath better and all appeared
to be O.K. Suddenly the paddles were
called for.
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven and his heart began beating once
more. The doctor said it was not a heart
attack.
I had been strolling
around St. Louis ready to take off on a seven day boat trip on the Cumberland
River to Nashville. When I called the
hospital to check on the results of his procedure, the nurse said, “If he were
my son, I would be on the next plane home.”
When I came in early
the next morning, Fred opened his blue eyes and knew I was there. That was the last time I would have
communication with my kid. From December
22, 1945, when someone plopped a 5 pound scrawny, red, wrinkled, crying baby in
my waiting arms until that fatal date of September 9, 2017 adds up to 26,194
days or 71 years, 8 months, 18 days. I
thank you, God, for every hour of that special merry-go-round loving time.
Many people stayed
around after the Service to tell me how Fred had impacted their life: Citizenship stories, foreign students with tutoring
help, a young woman who had scuba-dived with him, and a lady who had been in
Fred’s 8th grade and remembered when he walked, taking giant steps
across the room, always eager to reach his goal.
I have much to do
now. Messages await. Where we have addresses from the email and
the beautiful cards and the signed Guest book, we want to keep in touch. Magaly, his special Magy, and I want to thank the people who have donated to the Scholarship fund.
My second book -- “The
Lifes and Loves of MYRT-TY-KY-LY, Dragaan Princess” -- will be published
this month on Amazon. I begin to tell
Fred’s story when “GranMyrt placed a safety net around the baby heart of Fritz.“
(not a children’s story)
Next: I will begin, “There’s Nothing I Can’t Do,
the Biography of Fred Duane Heiny Cheshire.” In the back of my closet I
found three golden files with Fred’s early letters, newspaper stories about his
accident and even a rough draft of a book started back in 1977. I will be looking for people who participated
in Fred’s life and ask for their stories.
Don’t be concerned with sentence structure or commas, just write to: MIMAR102@COX.NET.
Top-top priority will
be the growth of Fred’s Endowment Scholarship fund at Glendale Community
College. We celebrate Fred’s life with
that which he loved best -- helping his students over a bump in the road,
helping his students when lack of English held them back.
AN ANONYMOUS DONOR WILL MATCH DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR
For every dollar you contribute to Fred’s Scholarship fund,
it will be matched until this person has contributed five thousand
dollars. In order to have an Endowment
fund, where the original donations stay intact and scholarships are awarded
with the earned monies, $10,000.00 is required.
How long will it take for those who know Fred and/or want to help his
students to reach our goal?
Checks may be mailed to:
Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, 2419
West 14th St., Tempe, AZ 85281
Please indicate
Fred’s name and 5629 or . . . . .
I will send you a letter or email to give you my
thanks.
Thank you for listening to my story. Hugs and blessings, Mariam
