[Ag-eq] San news about Simone

[Fred Chambers]

Everyone,

I told some of you already, but want to make sure y'all know.  I am  
very sad to tell you that Simone died about a week ago:  Tuesday,  
16th of June.
She went pretty quickly.  Happy, alive, and busy house hunting with  
me last Saturday, then she came down with a fever on Sunday.  By late  
Sunday afternoon, I couldn't rouse her.  I called the paramedics.  In  
the hospital, they pumped her full of antibiotics, but by Tuesday  
night, she was dead.  She had been on dialysis for about a year, and  
the UCSD Transplant boneheads kept dragging their feet.  Cause of  
Death was chalked up to a clogged gall bladder that had become  
necrotic, and a bacterial infection in the blood.

My heart aches.  We had plans for the near and long terms.  She was  
so happy, fired-up, and energized by our home buying prospects,  
getting a new kidney, shopping for a new bike, selling our car, etc.   
She never really woke up from Sunday.  "Poof," she was gone about 80- 
hours later.

Her wishes were to be cremated, and returned to New Zealand.  We will  
throw her a going away party on Saturday 25th of July.  We'll have a  
feast of her favorite foods, share memories, then walk down to the  
beach to bid farewell under the sunset.  Please feel welcome to  
attend, and participate.  I will try to get an invite out to  
everyone, but jot July 25th, late afternoon to evening down on your  
calendar.  We're in Carlsbad, near San Diego.

Simone was a Civil and Environmental Engineer, loved gardening,  
horses, and animals of all kinds.  We have 2 cats, a dog, and a big  
macaw.  Our apartment garden is small:  a palm tree and plumeria for  
a little tropical shade and fragrance, and kitchen herbs and  
tomatoes.  Oh, and her cactus named George.  She used to landscape  
landfills, Superfund sites, and other contaminated areas, planting  
trees to prevent pollution from seeping into the groundwater.  She  
was a bright, beautiful, quick-witted, outspoken environmentalist,  
with a big heart.

Sadly,

Fred
President - Ag. & Equestrian Division - NFB
VP - Beach Cities Chapter - NFB of California