My Friend Donald Cowling is Dying, I am a little Busy (May 11, 2018)

My friend is dying in front of my eyes and I can do nothing but say a few words now and then. He exhibits no sign of awareness or understanding. I have been told that hearing is the last sense to go as the body shuts down. I have been praying for him for years. He has been an agnostic for 80 years. When I told him I would be praying for him when this started in January, He said he could use all the help he could get.

I have known Don for about 48 years. I met him when I was a young college student at the University of Wisconsin, probably in the spring of 1970.  We met when I joined the UW pistol team. The team shot against a local league of pistol shooters, to practice. Don was one of the very best shots in the league. He had been on the University pistol team in the early 1950's, but worked for the University full time when I met him.

Cancer (Lymphoma) has caught up with Don. He was vigorous and active until January of 2018. He turned 84 in April.

I have been witnessing to Don, but he has not told me he has asked God for help or has accepted Jesus as his savior.  He has not been an aggressive atheist. He has allowed for the existence of God. Now he is beyond communicating with me, dying next to me, an arms length away.

God can hear both Don and me.

I pray that God has opened his heart as he comes closer and closer to death. I told Don not to be the "stiff necked" person, but to ask for help.

Don is not dying impoverished. He had plenty of money that he did not spend. It is an object lesson in the transitory nature of this world. His example has sobered me and made me realize that I have much to do so as not to be a burden on my family. 

Please excuse this very personal vanity.

Death comes to all of us. No one gets out of this life alive.

It is difficult to see a friend die.

If my writing seems reduced, bear with me. Don will not be with us much longer.
I feel duty bound to spend time with him.  Don can probably hear me, and I know God does.

Any prayers would be appreciated.


Dean Weingarten


Post script:

At 4:20 p.m., I took Norski’s advice (from a private message). I took Don’s hand and witnessed to him. I told him God loved him, and I loved him, and that he only had to give up his pride.

I told him to trust Jesus as his savior. I said we all made mistakes and needed salvation. I told him to ask for God’s help and forgiveness through his Son, Jesus.

Then I had to visit the bathroom. When I came back, I sat down, and Don stopped breathing. It was 4:25 p.m.

I am a skeptic by nature, but the timing of Don’s death, right after I followed Norski’s advice, seems providential.

Don did not give me any signal that I could detect. He simply stopped breathing and died.

Thank you all for your concerns, prayers, and advice. Don is gone now. I told some of his friends, and I told them what happened at the last.

Dean