Gary Wayne Pettus - CoVid -

 Early March, I was in my office in a meeting with my Palliative Care team. One of our members said that he believed we all would be personally affected by the virus - we would know someone who would die from it. And when musician, John Prine, died I cried, and I thought, yup, that's it. And then Broadway actor, Nick Cordero, died, and I thought - too young, just too young. I've had patients pass, seeing their families and their caregivers hurt and ache from their deaths and the extreme loss of not being with their loved one. And then Gary died on Saturday. I cried until there were no more tears. I've prayed for him and his family for weeks, since learning about his hospitalization. I've prayed for his caregivers, knowing they would fall in love with this gentle giant and his loving family. I've prayed there would be a miracle, and even last week was hopeful one was arriving, that would bring him to his Alabama home. Yet no.

I am better because of Gary and his family - they opened their arms to us when we moved to Alabama - we had meals with them, picked ginormous blueberries at their home, had conversations on the porch, and after our move to Utah, we remained in contact through the years - mourning Vicki's death, watching his beautiful family grow, keeping in touch with Noble, Johanna, Amy, Marion, and loving Cheryl like a best friend (this was taken May 2019).

Whenever, which is often, I think of the Pettus family, I think of a poem Gary shared in a Sacrament meeting, shortly after we arrived in the South. I wish I could find it now, yet the most important line, shared with Gary's slow, deliberate, Southern accent, impacted me, taught me to accept others where they are and learn from them, and still does - "Hush your mouth, child, I am the South."

Gary - 'til we meet again.

CoVid - thank God for memories.

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/9/5/21424548/covid-19-birmingham-temple-president-mormon-latter-day-saint-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR1gHI50VKR--eWO-HiX597RxCzovA_aFxLCFPGZnc-RqiQIW4LdnMPaFKw

https://www.lorettomemorialchapel.com/obituary/gary-pettus?fbclid=IwAR1gHI50VKR--eWO-HiX597RxCzovA_aFxLCFPGZnc-RqiQIW4LdnMPaFKw