Paul Gremillion . . .

Tragedy.  Paul had recently gone through a life threatening episode fighting a infection that got out control.  He was in the Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge fighting for his life.  He spent 11 days in the ICU but they finally got the infection under control.

From there he went to a rehab hospital and made unbelievable progress.  He was back walking albeit short distances but it was apparent as time went on he would do better and better.  He was released around the middle of June and returned to New Roads.  He was living in his house again with his beloved pet cat.

The cat at first was not to happy that he had been left behind but soon warmed to Paul again.

We visited with him and could tell he was independent again and happy to be at home.  Yes, progress would be slow and he health issues yet to deal with.  He had lost sixty pounds while in the hospital and needed to lose much more weight.

That will not happen now.  He died in his house July 8th by himself.  No one there to help.  His friends had called to check on him and go no answer.  So they went by to see if he was okay.  They found him face down by his walker in the living room.  He died probably from a blood clot and coronary thrombosis.  We may learn later but it really does not matter of how, it matters that it happened so suddenly.

We shall miss his wry humor, his sharp intellect and his capricious antics regarding his card playing, his gambling, his stock market investments, his taking care of Wood ducks and Purple Martins and his beloved school students.

It was a shock to us all.  Goodbye, Paul.