Sadly this morning I’ve been informed fellow tenant Sydney aka Big Pete has
passed away due to cancer. I first met the burly man about 5 years ago back then he hung out with former tenant Bonnie Hill, in the early evening they would sit
outside when the KMHC park bench was located near the entrance door. Eventually he applied and
moved to KMHC he obtained a unit on the top floor, soon after he noticed the
KMHC/UNH's bureaucracy and basically stayed away from it all. He'd make amusing comments about UNH's so called "Mandate". :P He was an intelligent man,
we had many conversations about UNH’s and I’m glad to say we were on the same
page.
In the beginning he was one of the few tenants I passed my blog site
link to, he followed my posts regularly. He would share his life stories
and travels which I found interesting. He wasn’t the type of person to sit idling around
the apt, always on the move doing something active outside of KMHC. I liked Pete and I can honestly say we never
had any verbal disagreements we got along well.
A few months ago we had a serious brief conversation about
his illness he did most of the talking while I listened, near the end of our
talk I asked for his permission to write about his illness on my blog. He agreed.
The last time I saw Big Pete was a month ago, I was asked to move some of
his furniture to his new unit located at another floor in the KMHC building. Even though he was sick, with optimism he
still talked about plans where he’s going to put his big screen TV. Sadly his plans never became reality he was
deteriorating and instead moved out of KMHC to a cancer hospice. I applaud fellow tenant little Debbie for
being there for Big Pete through all his pain and discomfort, those two had a special
bond. Debbie has my deepest sympathy
during this hard and difficult time. The thing I
admire about Big Pete he knew he was dying yet he didn’t wallow in self-pity he
kept moving as long as he could. The man
was one tough Indian and I’m proud to have known him.
RIP Buddy.
The disease cancer is a bloody S.O.B. Previous KMHC tenants have succumbed to this
affliction and I hate it.
Let’s hope Urban Native Homes Inc.will have the community room
open for all tenants, a place where we can pay our respects to a fallen KMHC
tenant. For the record: I don’t care if
UNH’s management doesn’t want me there. This time I’M GOING. I know Big Pete is looking down at us saying
Fuckin Right Tony. ;)
tk
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