The Importance of Reaching Out

Five minutes ago I just received an email that my grandmother’s uncle, Robert “Boo Air” Kilpatrick, died earlier today. BooAir was the last surviving son of Randolph & Mary Harvey Kilpatrick. Randolph and Mary had 13 kids to my knowledge, and now only one of their children is now living.
BooAir was about 80 years old and I began talking with him a couple of years ago after my grandmother died. She was a daughter of his sister Pearlie Mae. He was always willing and happy to speak with me and never hesitated to tell me about the Kilpatrick family history. At 80 years old, he was a sharp as could be and remembered fine details. He gave me more family names and more branches to research and I only wish I had spoken with him more. He was a young boy when his grandmother Violetta died, and after I made connections with a distant cousin last year who told me she had heard Violetta was Indian with black hair down her back, I called him up and he confirmed that yes, that was indeed the case.
I am so saddened that I will no longer get to speak with him.