A Collector or a "Saver"?

If my husband, Larry Jamison, had one of something, he typically had more than 5 of the same thing. I thought he was a "Collector", but in this example of his 9 transistor radios, all but one of which don't work anymore, I'd say he was simply a "saver" of items. Rather than throw them away, he threw them into a drawer! Larry followed his mother's pattern of listening to a radio throughout the night. Here's the bunch of radios in his nightstand at the time of his death. The one he used is at the bottom left.  

Watches were something else Larry hung on to! The watch he was wearing was at the right end of the first row.

Larry was a very devout Christian and faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was prepared to offer anyone who might be interested in a new copy of The Book of Mormon, with this collection of 26. It's a good thing we have a lot of bookcases in our house!

Larry's father owned the Harmonica at the top left of this photo below. And that's all it took for Larry to gather a collection of harmonicas! Those lined up on the right were provided by my father, Ernest Margheim. I don't know where he got them. 

There are more collections (Bibles, Cameras, Binoculars etc) but I didn't have time today to assemble them and photograph them. So there's much more to come!

Larry, the Collector

Larry was a "Collector" as evidenced here where I reveal two of his favored collections. 

He gathered 76 pocket knives, from his own and my father's collections over the years. 
Here are a couple knives I found after I photographed the above collection:

I teasingly called Larry "Six Eyes" when he would be wearing a pair of reading glasses, add another to improve visibility, and then add the spare glasses that hung around his neck so he could see better. I don't have a picture of that. But here we can see his collection of 43 pairs of reading glasses and sunglasses.

I discovered 2 more pair of glasses as I was cleaning out other cabinets.  I wish I knew the story behind each of them.

We can see that Larry always wore a pair of reading glasses around his neck, as he had on a pair. He's pictured here with his daughter Ruthie Jamison Brady.

Getting started on Oxygen

Life events this year are worthy of being documented for the future, whether it's me who wants to look something up that I've forgotten, or children or grandchildren reviewing the events to answer a question or to just get to know their grandparents better.

In April 2017 my husband Larry Jamison was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis. I was familiar with the lung disease as it had been a diagnosis my sister-in-law Marie L. Rocheleau received in 2002. I knew it was a disease with no known cause and no known cure. It wasn't until August 13, 2018, however, that Larry & I realized the severity and the progression of this disease. Upon a visit to his Pulmonologist, Dr. Junquierra, we were told that Larry's lung function was rated at 59% and he needed to be placed on oxygen 24/7. 

Learning what having oxygen integrated into all of daily living meant was quite an education. The staff at LinCare in Canon City was quite helpful and accommodating. But it changed our procedures for nearly everything.  

Our hearts broke for Larry that he had to deal with this nuisance, while at the same we were grateful that he had the supplemental oxygen to improve the quality of his life as the function of his lungs declined.