The Passing of the late, great Henry Madden
June 19, 2023 my father breathed his last breath
Two days ago, on June 19, 2023 my father breathed his last breath and passed into the next realm. He was very much ready to depart this earth. He was 89 years old.
Dad was a real man’s man. He lived for adventure. I was the youngest born in Alaska, the year it became a state. Dad hunted moose with bow and arrow, feeding neighbors and his own family. My parents homesteaded for 8 years back then.
Stateside we moved often and it was not easy being within the family of a man who always sought adventure and new beginnings before anything else in his life. We hung on for dear life in his wake, moved often, always in the middle of a school year. If the surf was up we moved to California (he surfed well into his 60's). If there was work in New England, where my parents were from, we packed and moved there. These moves were always made within a couple of weeks and with what would fit in the back of the car with us three kids. Toys and even pets had to be given away fast and repeatedly.
When dad got into sailing he wanted to live aboard and the idea was to do so after I was out of high school, which I would be entering the following year. But within months the 3 acre farm house was sold in Maine and we moved aboard our 43 foot wooden sailing vessel during a snow storm in January. We left the following summer. I lived aboard and sailed down the east coast and into the Bahamas over the next 5 years. I never cared that I missed prom and glee club. I was leading a most interesting and educational life. They were the best years of my life.
Beyond that time was a mixed bag. My dad’s thirst for adventure and a new life yet again once he bought a Harley — and all that went with that life — pretty much ended his marriage of 20 years to the saint who was my mother. They did briefly try again when Dad and my oldest brother lived in Maui, Hawaii (surfing again!) but the marriage eventually scattered into a million pieces when they were in New England again. He eventually married a lovely woman there but that too ended after a 10 year run or so. Most of my adult life I rarely saw my father though we kept in touch.
At that point he actually lived on his Harley in the Arizona desert that he loved. He worked doing videography pieces for several outlets and would set up a small solar panel in his tent and do the work and edit on his laptop. He was always the genius and very clever to the end.
In the last part of his life he finally slowed down. He moved near me in Florida and married for the third time to a wonderful woman and became a widower a few years later. It was then I became his primary caregiver these last few years. Once he had to eventually enter long term care he knew this would be the last stop. It is no life to be basically chained to a bed as he eventually could not walk. A big, big life was in the final chapter. We had many conversations about his life, his regrets regarding his family. He made his peace with us and with God.
One week ago he started to say good bye to people. I promised him I would not keep him alive if anything happened to him. I kept that promise earlier this week when he rapidly became unresponsive. I made sure he was comfortable but no extra measures would be taken to try and keep him alive. I was by his side when he breathed his last breath on Monday morning at 9:33 AM as he passed peacefully. The great life of the adventurer Henry Madden was now gone.
It was Monday, June 19th, which is also the holiday “Juneteenth.” How appropriate that the day that memorializes freedom for the slaves was the same day my father also found his freedom too.
Safe journeys, Dad. See you on the other side.
