He's gone to be with Roy now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

We've known for a week and more that this was probably coming. We got word first thing this morning.

About 11:20 PM last night, Ona walked on; he's gone to be with Roy now.

I think most of you know that Ona was Wings's nephew, the son of his elder brother Roy, who walked on . . . so close to this time, the early morning of June 3rd, to be exact, eight years ago. And it is by far my most vivid memory of Ona, inextricably intertwined with that date, the anniversary now less than a month away.

Roy and his family were (are) Jehovah's Witnesses, members of their local Kingdom Hall. When the cancer was closing in on him, he looked to Wings to make sure that his wishes were upheld with regard to spiritual practices and so forth. And on the morning that he walked on, just before 5:30, Ona called Wings to let him know, but Wings couldn't get to his phone in time. Because Roy's home (now where his daughter Camille lives) is just south of ours around the curve, Ona abandoned the phone and drove up to our place. Wings was headed outside to open the gate, but he was already there and walking around it, and I will never forget the image of Ona, so tall, clinging for dear life to his uncle in his grief. [That image above of Ona with Wings is from the private memorial for Roy a week or two later, on Roy's land.] 

And then last August, an errant mosquito would begin the process that eventually took Ona, too. It was West Nile virus (turned West Nile meningo-encephalitis), not COVID19, and yet I can't help but feel that the pandemic and its effects have made him one of its casualties, too: one more Indigenous statistic in a state full of undercounts. He fought for just over nine months, and defied so many odds, so many brushes with death, and no one can question his heart or his effort to live even in the face of all the new restrictions this pandemic has imposed. In the end, it was his decision. The hospital made an exception for his wife and kids to come up; they turned off the ventilator last night, and around 11:20, he walked on. No more pain, no more of the constant battle just to breathe. In his faith tradition, he and his father are resting now, but they will be together again someday.

Since folks from this circle provided so much of his GFM support, Wings felt it important that you know. We are personally so grateful to you all for your support of Ona, with prayers, with donations, with simple caring that is so absent from public life and discourse now. For today, our thoughts and prayers are with his spirit, and with his mom and sisters here who could not be with him these many weeks.

Ona, we love you.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.