[Shop Rat]

I just got an e-mail update on a friend that was battling cancer, he died this evening. His name was Bill Wood, he just turned seventy-three and he was one of the founding members of our AACA region. For many years he went to Fall Hershey. Due to his chemo schedule he and his wife Jill were not able to get there this year.

He was a "Screaming Eagle" during the Korean War. Yes, I know it was only called a "conflict" but for men like him it was a war.

Like many country boys here he learned to smoke and chew tobacco. It was his undoing. Twelve years ago he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He lost his voice box, muscles in his neck and part of his tongue. But he fought it and won for over eleven of those years. We all thought he had it beaten for good.

He leaves behind his widow Jill and many family members and friends.

[Amphicar BUYER]

My left arm (artery goes straight to my heart) is covered with tattoos of family I have lost to cancer. Too many for one arm. so I know what your feeling. Today is the 6th anniversary of the death of my brother in law.

Take solace in his contributions in your life.

[Dandy Dave]

I sit here speachless. I have a close friend that is dieing of lung cancer. They just told him last week that there is nothing more that they can do. All we can do is help all we can for the time he has left. I really need to get down there and see him once more before the enevitable end... None of us like to think, or talk about it, but one day we are all going to be gone one way or another. Party it up while we are here, because it is sooner than you think. He is a true collector of old cars, trucks, and tractors and was still buying stuff until recently. He was in the excavation business most of his life and only retired a few years ago. Dandy Dave!

[moxie1]

Very sorry for your loss of a friend! Been there

[windjamer]

So sorry for your loss Susan. My wife is fighting lung cancer,so I also know the feeling. We just finished kemo and radiation so now we hope for the best. Our prayers go out to your friends family.

[Shop Rat]

Thank you everyone. He was Billy Wayne to us and a very nice guy.

For years I jokingly begged him to stop the chewing tobacco and he would grin and offer to let me have some and then put the pouch in his hip pocket.

Twelve years ago he told me with tears in his eyes, "I should have listened to you. I have throat cancer." It was one of the last times I heard his actual voice. After that he had to use one of the hand held devices to be able to speak. Luckily for him his first wife had been a surgical nurse so he got to go home sooner after his surgery. He lost her a few years later to uterine cancer.

Jill was his second wife and we all believe that he was with us all longer because of her. They were married for five years.

We were going to go see him today. I got her e-mail late last night that he had passed.

[DShip]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I have been there, also. My dad, a 30 year Navy Chief Petty Officer - Gunners Mate, died of lung cancer at the young age of 63. He was a Pearl Harbor survivor serving on the Battleship Oklahoma at the time. He also served in the Korean War on heavy crusiers and was on active duty during the Cuban Missile crisis just before retiring. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him.

[keiser31]

We are truly saddened by the loss of your good friend. Cherrie and I are both cancer survivors and are very thankful that we each have a clean bill of health, now. We are experiencing a similar event because of our good friend Roger Williams. He had just finished his superb restoration of his 1930 Dodge DD business coupe and got brain and lung cancer. It does not look good for him. Luckily, he was able to attend the National Dodge Brothers Club show in Keizer, Oregon this past July and we were able to spend some quality time with him. When we were there, we celebrated the fact that he was cancer free. When he got home from the event, he called us and told us the bad news. Throat and brain cancer showed up. We can only hope that we will see him again in the great antique car wrecking yard in the sky.

[MrEarl]

Susan, sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.

[Marty Roth]

Susan, our hugs to you on the loss of your friend.

Dale and I lost her mother to cancer last November, having cared for her in her home since Hurricane Katrina. She was a really strong lady who( , at a time when most girls did not finish high school) went on to graduate from Newcomb College of Tulane University, worked as an Accountant for the Illinois Central Railroad during WWII, and managed her husband's pharmacy and his pharmaceutical wholesale business, took care of her mother and father and 2 daughters - and still managed to go fishing out in the Gulf of Mexico every weekend, and to land a 250 lb. Pacific Sailfish off the coast of Acapulco. What a gal !!