Wells Fargo Mortgage called daily. I gave them my name and explained that Dennis was dead, they asked for my contact information and I freely gave it over to the company. Now they call daily and ask for Dennis. Last week I was at work when they called and I yelled at them "is this why he turned off his phone and hung himself, were you calling and tormenting him everyday?" Two weeks before he died he unplugged his phone.
Most of his bills were only one or two months behind. His credit cards had a zero balance. The lights, phone, TV, were still on when we arrived. He still had plenty of food in the house. He had a pile of unopened bills, not that many really. His note said he hadn't been able to pay any bills since July.
A follow up to And then he kicked the chair out from underneath his feet.
He was a proud American worker. We met back in 1983 at a bar called The Sandwich in Santa Fe Springs. He was a blue collar worker and this was a blue collar bar. Santa Fe Springs was a hub of industrial activity at that time and on a Friday night the bar was filled with folks who worked at local factories and warehouses. It was loud and fun with a couple of pool tables and a juke box.
About fifteen years and two kids later we parted, still friends. He bought the condo in 1998 and lived and died there. The medical examiner left behind the chair, plastic wrap and a tag for a size medium body bag and then there were the marks on the beam in the garage. I went with our kids, now age 19 and 21, to take care of their father. We had him removed from the county facility and made arrangements for his cremation. We met with the medical examiner, the mortuary and his financial advisor. We spoke with an attorney for the State of Nevada and a Realtor. The attorney said that usually the state forces this through probate, but given the circumstances and the current economy we wouldn't have to. He owed $20,000 more on his condo than it was worth.
During his 57 years he had worked many jobs. He was also a collector of everything. On a wall he had name tags from various jobs, his Local 250 buttons from when we were union workers, the pins he received when he completed safety training and other items from past employment. He was the backbone of the economy at one time, the guy who always showed up for work. The worker who made things and made companies prosper. He was one of the millions of ants it took to make the entire country move forward. And he was proud. His walls were covered with pictures of his kids, family and awards from various jobs. For Dennis to sit, unemployed for over two years, and look at the walls of what his life once was must have been difficult. He wanted to work, on his counter was a pile of resumes. He really had been trying to find something, anything. Then his health started to decline. According to his note, it was declining rapidly in the end.
In his closet, where he kept his albums, was his collection of "I Voted" stickers. Dennis and I were good democrats. He never missed an election, the only one I ever missed was when I had complications from a C-section and was still bedridden. We voted, and both he and I continued to vote after the divorce. Back when we were young, at the Sandwich, the bartender would give you a free drink if you came in on election day with your "I Voted" sticker. He kept them. They were on display inside his closet. I wish I would have taken a picture.
We locked up his home, after our kids took a few things to remember their dad. We picked up his cat from the county animal shelter and took him back to California with us. We are waiting for the medical examiner to release the body for cremation so we may take his ashes to the resting place he requested. His belongings and his condo will go to Wells Fargo. His cat has a new home with two young college students. We are all in grief counseling, trying to come to terms with what happened.
I contacted Harry Reid's office but have not received a reply - no surprise really. I did not post the obit I wrote (in the last diary) to the Reno Gazette Journal as some comments that were made by others online were so harsh that I decided it would not be healthy for our children to go through that publicly.
On this labor day I would like to remember the workers who once made this country great. The workers who are still looking for work. The workers who are too ill to work.
And to remember:
Dennis Paul Abrams
10/25/1952 - 8/18/2010
Rest in Peace.