My dad, The Old Goat, retired Senior Chief of the US Navy, brother, godfather, Uncle, cousin, friend to many, my mom's husband of 51 years, cancer and heart transplant warrior took his final breath at 6:25 am PT on Tuesday, January 7th. He was surrounded by his loved ones, my mom, me, and my son. My dad did not lose to his health battles, he looked death in the face and said he wanted out, and then when death greeted him with soft open arms, he went peacefully. My dad can now rest. Here are a few ways to support: - Text my mom/his wife, Maynette, with words of comfort. - Call Maynette next week (week of 1/13/25). - Text me, Aljolynn, with your favorite memory of my dad or a funny meme or gif. - If you'd like to make sure my mom, who has Type 2 diabetes, stays fed and healthy, please text me to arrange meal delivery. She does not have food delivery apps so Door Dash and other apps are not useful at this time. I'll setup a proper meal train next week. - Donate to the following cause-oriented organizations in honor of my dad: Donate Life NW (https://www.donatelifenw.org/content/make-your-gift-today) or Fred Hutch Cancer Center (https://www.fredhutch.org/en/ways-to-give.html). Please do not send flowers at this time, it's difficult to have them properly delivered/picked up at my parents home. Thank you for respecting this request. - Email me your favorite photos of him and you so I can put together a slideshow for his memorial. My email address: ally@aljolynnsperber.com. My mom is visited by my dad's sister, Candy, and will then be visited by my Aunty Barbara and cousin, Kat, next week. This will be her first time living on her own, so please email me if you'd like to schedule time to stay with her. Mel will be cremated and we do plan to host a memorial service in Washington State and another in California, where a lot of his family resides. Please follow this page for updates. Until then, I leave you with this excerpt from a poem by Khalil Gibran "On Death". "For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."