I found out that yesterday our previous athletic director, Mr. Tom Vanderwoude, died while saving his adult Downs Syndrome son from drowning. The son whom I had seen many times on campus, who seemed to be in his early twenties, had fallen into the family septic tank. He was rescued by the dad, but for some reason, Mr. Vanderwoude didn't make it.
I didn't know Mr. Vanderwoude very well, but he was always nice and friendly to me. I would have put him somewhere in his late 60's-early 70's. He had a personality somewhat like my father's. He had a big family. Another of his sons is a priest, and still another one, Chris, took over for him last year as athletic director for the college.
As I find out more I will relay it. Please pray for the repose of his soul and for the consolation of his family.
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A little bit more information: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml#vw
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Another thing I did not blog about initially, because I wasn't sure of the outcome, was that my uncle Ray (my middle name's sake) for some reason had a spell when he was in the bath on Saturday night and couldn't get out. When he didn't show up at Sunday Mass people worried, but when his neighbors didn't see him around for several days, they got the fire department to break down the door. He was taken to the hospital with pneumonia, starvation/hydration, and, I think, some sort of cardiac irregularity. (He was in the tub semi-to-unconscious for three days.) He was quite delirious. He has made a rather remarkable recovery, and does not seem to have had a stroke or heart attack. In fact, they are not quite sure what the problem was. In fact he is so much better that he is complaining about various things at the hospital - always a good sign, and seems to be more his old self. He is not yet completely better as he has to have a feeding tube, but I am told that this is not a bad sign. It probably will be only temporary.
Please keep him in your prayers as well.
2 comments:
So sorry about your former athletic director. This is one of those instances where the outcome seems rather cruel and senseless, but God has His plan - at least that's what we have to have faith in. My prayers for his soul, but more for his family, who must carry on without his physical presence.
Mom told me yesterday that Uncle Ray was doing better. It certainly was looking serious when the neighbors got in touch with Mom last Thursday - and based on what was said, Karl (our oldest brother and an MD), was afraid a stroke looked pretty likely. Guess he's pretty lucky, and has a strong constitution, because making it through something like that at 83 (I think he was 3 years older than Dad) is no mean feat.
Kind of made me stop and think - Uncle Ray is really the last of Dad's family we have left. And the last time I saw him when he came to visit Mom a couple years ago, I was struck by how much his looks (and more his speech patterns and mannerisms) reminded me of Dad. (And how I still miss him).
But then again, so many things about you, Kurt, remind me of Dad. Especially that story you told about being in Germany and being approached by the panhandler, where you told him (in German), that you didn't speak German. I thought at the time that was just something Dad, with his sly sense of humor, would have done (if he'd spoken German).
I read the story of Mr. Vanderwoude in a couple places on the web--one of them being "the corner", the blog on nationalreview.com, where they mentioned a Christendom connection. I wondered if you knew him.
That was a very unfortunate situation; it sounds like he was a very good man.
karl
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