Saying Goodbye to My Cousin Graham

I was sad to get a call from my mom on Saturday that my cousin Graham had died in Warsaw, North Carolina, after is long and hard-fought battle with cancer. He had it for around 13 years and there were so many times we all thought he was going to die only to have him rebound and be his old self a few weeks later. Unfortunately, the cancer would always come back and this last time it was becoming apparent that this time he wouldn't rebound.

I was very glad to get to see him twice when I was in NC over Thanksgiving, the second time, Nov. 30th, he was out of his hospital bed at his house and in the family room watching college football on his big screen TV and cheering on his beloved UNC (even though they lost to Duke). This was the Graham I'll remember. His wife Vicki was having trouble with the remote and Graham was there giving her instructions. He was nice enough to let us tune into the Georgia-Georgia Tech game, though.

Graham was my oldest cousin, some eight years older than me (born in 1943) and Mom regarded him more as a brother than a nephew as they were only 13 years apart.

I'll Sure Miss Graham.