The Reports of my Death...

To quote a famous American author, "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"! And yes, it is evidently true - about a month ago I was reported, by the paper no less, that I had died! Well, at least that someone named Dean A Ketelsen had died, and that part was true...

One of my standard tasks on my way to Iowa is to stop in Fulton along the Mississippi River and visit my Aunt Velma, now in the nursing home. She is among the few survivors of my Dad's generation, and as I get older myself, I like to hang on to those times as long as possible! I've blogged about her before - just 18 months ago here, and back when we held a reunion on her farm here. Evidently she was the first to discover in the Clinton Herald that I, or rather, Mr. Ketelsen had passed. Convinced it was me, even though the birthdate was wrong and what the heck would I be doing dying in Ohio, she was evidently inconsolable, even after being told that if true, my sisters would have alerted the family... They finally had to look up the full obituary and saw the details of Mr. Ketelsen's life as well as his photo before she finally believed it wasn't me that did the passing...

Finally word got to my sisters and eventually on to me. While I'm sorry for Mr. Ketelsen, I'm sort of glad it wasn't me! I guess my passing would explain my lack of posts the last few months, but can't claim that distinction!