Thank you to CivilWarTalk Forum, from Ron's sister ...
Thank you so much for your outpouring of condolences for Ron, aka Brass Napoleon. They mean so, so much to our family and I’ve printed them all out and will treasure them always. KansasFreestater, you moved me to tears with your eloquent posts.
And Unionblue I absolutely loved what you said, “And there is the truth, my friends. No matter how miffed we may get with one another, no matter how many times we disagree, as Drew said, we should "hug" one another every day because we simply do not know when we will be called away. To ALL of the members here, friend, and sometimes foe, we must never forget we are just folks, talking about our favorite topic, the Civil War. My "hug" goes out to each and everyone of you and I am glad we have all had a chance to talk, argue, disagree, and BE with one another.”
I could almost hear Ron cheering from heaven above when I first read that Unionblue.
So many postings and so many pulled at my heart. Thank you to all for taking the time to send condolences to us at this difficult time.
Ron loved the CivilWarTalk forum!
Here’s some snippets from emails he’s sent me over the years in which he’s talked about the forum:
It's been an interesting couple of weeks here. The Gettysburg trip was really awesome. It was great to finally meet many of the people I've been conversing with in that online forum for years, including even some of the people who I've disagreed with. We got some really great tours of the battlefield too. Then yesterday the OHC had its annual docent's field trip. We went to Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie off of Sandusky, which was the site of a Civil War POW camp for Confederate officers. They're doing archaeology work there to uncover the remnants of the camp, which is normally closed to the public, but we got a guided tour from the guy who's leading the effort. So that was really cool.
And this concerning FarawayFriend:
The forum member from Germany who came to Gettsyburg saw I was wearing a geocaching shirt and she said she was interested in getting started. So I gave her some encouraging words (and a few discouraging ones too, haha) and she sent me a message saying that she created an account and found her first cache.
And this from the Summer of 2015:
I have a great opportunity for a battlefield tour in September. One of the most renowned and respected Civil War battle experts and authors is a member of the Civil War internet discussion forum that I'm on, and he's offered to give a free tour of the Brandy Station battlefield to anyone who's interested. That's near Culpeper, Virginia. I've been by the battlefield several times, but there's nothing marked there so there was nothing for me to see. But it was the largest cavalry battle in the Western Hemisphere, so having an expert to guide us there will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will also be nice to meet some of the forum members in person.
And thank you, thank you, thank you to Littlestown for starting this thread and letting me know about it to help ease my pain and so I could acknowledge all of you whose lives Ron touched. Littlestown and Ron have been friends for many years sharing many interests and adventures together and she has helped me greatly in the grieving process as we share our memories about Ron.
And finally, just to pass along some info and hoping to raise awareness. Ron passed away in the early morning hours on June 23 from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The last two weeks of his life he was waking up with chest pain in the middle of the night that would subside if he got up and sat in a recliner and breathed deeply for a while. He went to the emergency room on June 10 and the EKG came back basically normal. He was in the process of having more medical testing done and everything was coming back normal or near normal.
And by day, he was still working and hiking and biking etc.
With hindsight, it now appears Ron had severe sleep apnea in the end which caused his heart to enlarge and fluid to back up in his lungs (this was discovered only after he died.) The most extensive damage happened in just two weeks’ time (because the EKG on June 10th was basically normal.) I am so heartbroken that I was so ignorant about sleep apnea and so wish I could turn back the clock and make sure he got a CPAP machine that would have given him many more years of vibrant life.
Please listen to your loved one’s breathing at night, and listen in particular for a stoppage of breathing or a jagged, loud, restart of breathing/gasping off and on during the night. Numerous stoppages of breathing cause the blood pressure to spike, heart arrhythmias, and can lead to fluid back up in the lungs etc.
I’m sorry, I hope this isn’t too morbid, but my heart just goes out to anyone else that may lose someone they love so unnecessarily.
My deepest gratitude for your friendship, camaraderie, and exchanging pearls of wisdom with Brass Napoleon over the years and for your beautiful tributes to him.
Debbie Overmann