This is just a story I will always treasure about a man who is running for office. For the last several years of her life, my mother lived with us following a stroke she suffered living alone in Richardson. We built her a “grandma’s house,” on the back of our property. She was 87 when she came to San Marcos. Judy White, Evelyn Meehan, and Rouye Rush made her welcome and were her companions even after dementia began to make her unable to do many things they were doing together. We will be eternally grateful to them for helping to make mother’s last years pleasant.

Before her 90th birthday we could see changes in her behavior and her memory and for the last five years of her life she had no memory of “today.“ I had long since ceased to be her son. Sometimes she recognized me as her father or brother and sometimes as my father. Lucille was “that other woman” that I was going home with every night. To all of you who have been or are elder caregivers I know you understand.

Her last few weeks I could tell she did not have long to live. The night before she died we had one more precious moment with her. As I put her to bed she looked up and said, “Jerry, you and Lucille have been so good to me.” It was on a Friday night, On Saturday morning she was lying on the couch in the living room, calling me and obviously in great pain. I tried to comfort her as I called EMS. She died before they arrived. Among the first responders was our deputy sheriff.

Mother had no living will. Folks, it is very easy to have a living will. You can get all the information from your family doctor. You owe it to those who will have to make decisions at your death. Without one, the EMS is required by law to make every effort to resuscitate a person even though death is clearly indicated. So the EMS crew went to work. They were very efficient and they knew their job, but it was not a pretty sight.

Our deputy put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Colonel, you don’t need to watch this.” And he gently led me into our bedroom where we sat and talked until the crew was ready to leave. It was an act of kindness and professionalism that went beyond the call of duty but it was the mark of the man.

The deputy’s name was David Peterson. David is good at what he does but he does it with heart and true caring for those whom he serves. A story I needed to tell and a vote for David in his race for constable