 By Beverly Reeves August 04, 2008
Bob had many friends but two of his friends spent his last days with him and helped him to fulfill his last wish. Those two friends were Jesse Reeves and Kurtis King. Bob knew that Jesse and Kurtis had family in Ketchikan and asked them to go with him to Ketchikan to see Creek Street. That happened in May of 2005, the last week of Bob's life. Bob had a fascination with Creek Street and his wish was to see it for himself. They took the ferry from Juneau to Ketchikan and stayed with a cousin, Forrest McGillis. They had a great time and met lots of family including Chuck and Dara King (Grandpa and Grandma to Jesse, Kurtis and Forrest). When it was time to go home they got on the ferry and Bob started suffering from complications. An ambulance was sent and he was taken to Ketchikan Hospital with Kurtis standing by to help. They were flown home to Juneau that night. Jesse stayed on the ferry and got home the next day. That was Sunday, Bob died two days later. As time went by I became curious to know what Bob's fascination with Creek Street was. I finally asked Jesse if he knew why Bob wanted to see it. His answer truly surprised me. Jesse said that Bob told him that one of his favorite movies was "Popeye" with Robin Williams. Creek Street mirrored the backdrop of that movie. Jesse said that Bob would have stayed on the boardwalk of Creek Street all day that day pretending to be Popeye, if only to be strong and invincible as a comic book character come to life. We hope that Bob's dreams have come true. I thank him for teaching my boys a lesson in life and death as well. None of them have forgotten Bob and I hope they never do. This is a true story and my boys' wish is to put up a plaque on Creek Street in honor of their friend Bob. Maybe it could say something to other passers by. Beverly Reeves
Received August 04, 2008 - Published August 04, 2008 Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:
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