Keith Olbermann has posted on his MLB blog that his father passed away today at 3:50pm Eastern Time.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/13/845953/-Theodore-C.-Olbermann,-1929-2010He died peacefully after a long fight against the complications that ensued after successful colon surgery last September at the New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. My sister Jenna and I were at his side, and I was reading him his favorite James Thurber short stories, as he left us.I'm sure that most of us have followed Keith over the past year as he and his family have suffered the loss of both their parents.
There isn't too much to say except to wish Keith all the best in the years to come.
A few thoughts of mine own:
From what I've seen on Countdown and read, Mr. Olbermann (that means Theodore), seemed to be a real down to earth kind of guy. No matter what he had to deal with the last six months, he didn't let his sense of humor get away from him. Keith, if you're reading this, that's what I got from your stories and updates about his last few months.
Whenever someone loses a parent it is a shock. I lost my father almost seven years ago. He was 70. Thankfully, he didn't suffer all that much. The diagnosis of lung cancer was less than two weeks before he passed. My mother thankfully, still runs around, still works as she approaches her 74th birthday in couple of months.
I remember thinking how lucky I was to have had him even that long. At his funeral, I remarked how in just the previous two years I had seen six students have bury a parent. I felt so lucky to have my Dad until I was 41. I couldn't imagine losing him at 15 or 16.
I do know this, when ever I see a Baskin-Robbins, I'll think of Teddy Olbermann. Something tells me, a lot of us around here will.
He is as much my hero now, as he was when I was five years old.
That is so true for so many of us.
Update: Keith has posted a commentdown thread, a thank you to us all. All I can say is, no Keith, thank you.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2010/3/13/18433/1886/143#c143My Thanks To Everybody Forgive my brevity.
He fought against this, as did we, obviously - but that ratio of things you suffer in hopes of getting well, to chances you will get well, swung rapidly in the wrong direction in the last few days. You first-guess yourself, and second-guess, and thirtieth-guess, and you hope you're doing the right thing and that you are left with some vague sense that you did.
And then, if you're lucky, your Dad does for you what mine did for us. We dialed down the intervention and upped the pain remedies last night and he was out like a light, eyes closed. I walked him through everything we were considering and all that would ensue, and I read to him for hours, and he never moved. Then when I said good night, early this morning, I told him I loved him, and suddenly his eyes opened just barely and a few formless syllables crossed through his lips, and then he went back into that deep slumber. I think I'm not guessing too wildly at what he was saying in reply.
Today, after everything was turned off save for the painkiller drip and the oxygen, he opened his eyes a little more widely than they'd been (he was not awake), and I read him four or five of his favorite Thurbers and as I finished the last of them, he closed his eyes, and a moment after that just stopped breathing. No agonies, no rattles, no fear - and, given that the whole process took just 35 minutes - no need for us to doubt for a moment we were doing what he wanted.
Peace to you all.
"If you're going through hell - keep going!" -- Winston Churchill
by Keith Olbermann on Sat Mar 13, 2010
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