(Editor’s note: The following letter is in regard to the passing of Bobby F. Tipton of Ark City. He recently died of Covid-19. It was the fourth such death in Cowley County and his death had been previously reported by NewsCow.)
Our father was 90 years old and was of very fragile physical health, but he was very strong in mental and spiritual health. He had many physical ailments that most, other than family didn’t know about (as it should have been) and he made choices of his own as to where and what he wanted to do or go (again as it should be.)
Tipton
Our father had cancer all through his body, congestive heart failure, an eye disease that was about to take his eyesight. He was almost deaf and about this time each year, when dampness would set in, he would routinely struggle with pneumonia. Yet with all of this being said of these illnesses, he was very much active and alive.
He still chose to live what he had of life to the fullest. He chose to travel back and forth to the Veterans Hospital and other doctor appointments, exposing himself and his 84-year-old wife to the chance of Covid-19 because it was what he needed to do to make what little time he had left worth living. So he traveled back forth to Wichita to the VA and to the specialist that required him to be seen in person using all recommended CDC precautions. He also decided to enjoy a meal at a restaurant rather than eating them in his room while on these outings (as he should have been able to.) Now that trip to the doctor’s happened in the week following “the event’ as it was kindly described, so there was no way for anyone to know where he or his wife might have been exposed. Therefore, nobody had the right to link that event to his death!
Furthermore, dad had hidden away in his home since March and during that time he made a choice. He told us since he was not getting out and moving around that he had been slipping. He was falling routinely and getting weaker by the day, so he made a choice to live! He no longer wanted to hide and that life was quickly passing him by and he did not want to waste what time he had left. So he went to his doctor appointments, walking through a crowded VA hospital with his head up greeting people and he stopped and ate a meal away from the safety of his room and he chose to attend “events” that would have broke his heart to have missed.
Yes, Covid might have sped up the process of his passing, but he passed full of life and love, doing what he chose to do and being part of the family he loved. We as a family feel wonderfully blessed that he chose us and that he felt we were worth the choices he made. What a wonderful blessing from God!
Virginia Ball
Daughter of Bobby Tipton
