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Book Bindery, Inc.
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VOL.90,No.49, THlRiiDAY, JL!SE 21, 1979 . . ^
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%ive one day at a time. Keep your sense of humor. Don’t quit fighting to live...and put your faith fully in God... • Ross Baumgardner
No Sad Songs
Death Is No Stranger I d C. Ross Baiimgardiner
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff Writer
Sleep wouldn't come.
HU mind meed; too many
questions.
He slipped quietly from hU
deeping wife’s side and shuffled out
Into the warm night air. He stared at
the darkness until the familiar
landscape took shape. He listened to
nlghtsounds, a light breeze
caressing the tree tops. Then he
lifted hU eyes. Stars sparkled In
reUef at Heaven’s gateway.
C. Ross Baumgardner’s world had
collapsed. Bitterness scalded hU
throat and frustraUon, like a greasy
bubble, was lodged there. In hU
bitterness and frustration, Ross
screamed aloud at the stars—"Why
me. Lord?’’
Only hours before Ross had
learned his multiple sclerosis, a
dUease that attacks the central
nervous system, was not In
remission.
Unless there is remission a MS
victim dies by Inches after graduaUy
being reduced to total helplessness.
0 f
Reed Graduates
Dr. Charles Nathan Reed, son of
Dr. and Mrs. N.H. Reed of Kings
Mountain, was graduated recently
from the School of Medicine at the
University of North Carolina In
Chapel HUl.
He will begin his postgraduate
training In Interr jd Medicine at
Charlotte Memorial Hospital July 1.
At UNC-Ch, Dr. Reed was active
In Chapel Hill SHAC Clinic, and on
the UNC School of Medicine Ad
missions committee.
He attended Kings Mountain High
^ School and completed pre-medical
^ studies at the University of North
Carolina.
Mrs. Rood is the former JUl Fisher
of Pendleton.
DR. CHARLES REED
Hospital Clears Hurdle
The next stop In the proposed
renovation program at Kings
Mountain Hospital cleared another
M hurdle Monday In a meeting of the
^ Cleveland County Board of Com
missioners.
OommUsloners voted that a $S
million renovation of the hospital
may proceed to the next stage.
Administrator Orady Howsu'd said
the program calls for no new beds.
To correct for what hospital officials
term as Inadequate room space, SB
beds will be eliminated. They will be
replaced, sstld Howsurd, with a 86 bed
third floor above the newest section
at the hospital. All will be turned Into
private rooms.
Howard said the proposed $10.84
per day per patient increase In rates
would retire 80-year revenue bonds
to finance the project. Present
private room rates range from $78 to
$7B per day.
Commission Chairman Jack
Palmer, Jr. said ho questioned the
large amount of money being spent
ibr a project which would not In
crease bed capacity but the com
mission endorsed the project, voting
to send to the state a certificate of
need application.
Kings Mountain Mayor John Moss
told the board that the city com
mission has endorsed the project
and Howard told the board that
hospital trustees are 100 percent
behind the project.
"Why me. Lord?”
The question all may ask when
given the same news.
Ross ws« 44-years old. He had a
wife, a son, a daughter. Ho had his
dream home and a Job he loved. Ho
had spent 31 years as a flight
engineer and crow chief In the U.S.
Navy. He had It all and the future
was bright ahead of him.
"Why mo. Lord?" he screamed.
And then he felt the tears running
down his cheeks and he said, "Why
not me. Lord?”
Ross had already walked and
talked with his Lord, but since that
warm night last March ho walks
even closer. His unquestioning faith
has sustained him.
He needed It.
The doctor gave Ross seven
months at best.
He has spent the time counseling
his famUy, getting his legal papers
hi order - and planning his funeral
services.
The latter was not difficult,
because Ross holds licenses of
funeral director and embalmer
earned at Gupton Jones School of
Embalming In Atlanta. Death was
no stranger to Ross. While In service
he was casualty assistance officer
and served as military escort for
bereaved service families. His
natural manner with the bereaved
caused several funeral directors to
encourage his thinking about
becoming a director himself when
he retired from the Navy.
Ross retired from service In May
1972 and settled his famUy on the
seven-acre farm off Waco Rd., found
for him by a local realtor. He reaUy
had no plans to do ansrthlng for
awhile after retirement, except
perhaps "go fishing.”
He was Idle for one month, during
which both his pastor. Rev. W.A.
Costner, and Ollle Harris en
couraged him to enter mortician
school and go to work.
Ross went to work for Carothers
Funeral Home In Gastonia, taking
night calls, living at the funeral
home and then attending Gupton
Jones In AUanta.
His work at funerals, his obvious
concern for the families of the
deceased placed him In good stead
with Carothers. He had no reason to
believe he was not set tn a career he
loved.
But his right leg ached.
Gradually It became more un
steady.
While In the Navy Ross had fallen
and Injured tiie right knee. There
was an operation to repair damaged
carUedge and Ugaments and It had
healed as expected according to
doctors.
"The ache Just wouldn’t go away,”
Ross said, "and I would stagger
occasionally. That was em
barrassing during a funeral service.
So I went to see a doctor, had the leg
x-rayed. It showed nothing.”
Ross continued to work, but he
realized It was taking him longer
and longer each time to complete the
embalming operation. And he found
he had to cling to the table to steady
himself.
Other signs showed up. His
fingertips were gradually losing all
feeling and he would spill things at
the dinner table.
"It was embarrassing,” Ross
said, “I had finished second In my
embalming class and It was getting
harder and harder to do my Job. I
used to work for two hours and rest
IS minutes. Then after 16 minutes of
work I was ready to rest for two
hours. I had no duration In my log.”
Ross saw two more doctors and
the third suggested a jrtiyslcal
therapist.
"The therapy actually did make
the muscle In my right leg stronger
than my left,” Ross said, "but still
there was no duration. My foot droop
was worse. That was started In the
Navy. I caU It that because my foot
would drag, toe first, when I took a
step.”
It was the therapist who first
alerted Rosa to what he might have.
’"Ihe therapist said It was either
polio or MS,” Ross said. "But said
that I would have to chock that out
with my doctor. I did. I had the
doctor do the same thing the
therapist had - press firmly on the
bottom of my right foot while the leg
was stretched out on a table.’
The result was pathological
fremors uncontrollable leg
movement. The doctor said “either
poUo or MS” and referred Ross to a
neurologist In Winston-Salem.
The testa confirmed MS.
During his talks with the
neurologist, Ross recalled an In
cident that happened to him once
while he was on leave from the
Navy. He went blind In his left eye
and WM hospitalized at Portsmouth
Naval Hospital lor tests and
treatment. The sight returned as
quickly as It had vanished and there
was no medical explanation for
either.
"Not at that time, anyway,” Ross
sald.‘’Now I know the sudden loss
and return of the sight was another
early symptom of multiple
'•clerosls.”
The neurologist told Rose neither
Ms emaciated right leg, the lack of
muscular duration nor the numb
ness In his lingers would klU him.
"With MS the fatality occurs when
the disease attacks a primary organ
that sustains life functions - cir
culatory and respiratory systems,”
Ross was told.
"He said the Important thing ta to
get the disease Into remission,”
Ross said. “I told the neurologist I
was going back to work and work as
long as 1 could. He told me to come
to him when I knew I could no longer
work.”
Ross made that trip last
December.
"My leg Just won’t do what my
brain tells it to and my hands are
numb and my speech Is starting to
slur...” Ross told the neurologist.
"Is that all you’ve got to tell me?”
With tears In his eyes, emotion In
Ms voice, Ross blurted It out...
“I can’t do my dsunn Job
anymore!!”
"Hie pressures Increased for Ross.
He could no longer work, he was
clumsy at the table, he found It In
creasingly difficult to do even the
most elemental things. These things
were of tittle consequence to others,
but in Ross’ mind these were large
scale disasters.
One of the pleasures he had most
enjoyed was the evening walks with
Ms animals down to the stream
running through Ms property. The
last time he was there Ms leg
buckled and he sprawled In the
water. Slowly, painfully and tear
fully he pulled himself over the
ground with unfeeling hands to got
tome.
"Why not mo. Lord?”
And since that March night when
Ross found an Inner peace and
prayed, while his family slept, for
the wisdom to help them through
their ordeal, he has faced up to both
life and death.
"I live one day at a time,” he said
"I take the good with the bad.
Sometimes I want people around
me. I want to talk, laugh,sing. And
somedays I rage, cry and shout. I
will not answer the phono. I don’t
want any decisions demanded of
me.”
But you don’t quit living!
“You carry on,” Ross said. "You
have to. I think more than myself,
this situation has taken greater toll
on my family. In whatever way I’m
capable I am trying to make them
understand they must go on. My son.
Rusty, has qualified for admission
to the U.S. Naval Academy, so I am
happy he has a lead on his own
future. My daughter. Tracy will be a
senior next fall at Kings Mountain
High School. Mona, my wife, has her
work as a beautician.”
Another way he has planned to
make his passing easier on his
family is the type of service he
wants. "1 want no full military
funeral, no taps played. I have seen
the effect this has on families. It Is
agonizing.”
Ross wanted to tell Me story
because It might help other famines
going through the same or a similar
crisis. He has advice for the person
with the terminal Illness:
"Listen to your doctor. Sit down
with your family and bring It all out
In the open. Explain what the Illness
Involves and what physical and
mental problems It can evoke. Don’t
allow yourself to become a
scapegoat In family confrontations
because of your Illness. Live one day
at a time. Keep your sense of humor,
don’t quit fighting to live and - most
Importantly - put your faith fully In
God.”
Horse Show Set
It will be horse show time again at
Kings Mountain Saddle Club on Sat.,
June 38, beginning at 11 a.m. and
continuing through the day and
evening with Intermission from 6 to 6
p.m.
Forty-four classes of beautiful
show horses will be Judged, with
competition for English, Western
and Game horses. Judges tor the
event will be David Bradley.
Hickory, English, and Bob Mc-
Cbrtha, Chapin, S.C., Western. High
point trophies will be awarded In
each of the three divisions and points
accumulated will be credited toward
the Year End High Point Awards
which will be given at the end of the
September show.
Kings Mountain Saddle Club Is
located off Waco Rd. north of Kings
Mountain, and further Information
may be obtained by calling (704) 789-
2108 Phone show day only Is 789-
7203.