Page created by: Elizabeth Pape

As you probably know by now, my husband Bob died on April 21st of Parkinson’s complications.
Although he was diagnosed in 2004, when we looked back later, we realized that he had symptoms as far back as 10 years earlier. It wasn’t until the tremors became annoying that he even thought to mention it to his GP.
He did some of his most creative and rewarding work until he stopped in 2013. He started to focus on his photography in 2004, about the time I looked at a gardening calendar in Barnes and Noble and said, “My garden will never look like this!” He set out to prove it already did by producing a magnificent calendar of garden photos for my birthday. It was so astonishing that we gave copies to clients and started an annual tradition for another eight years. His photos only got better as recognition grew. He just added a tripod to his camera pack.
Bob lived a long, happy life with PD and despite PD. He learned to cross country ski and to ice skate with PD. He loved fishing, and when we moved south to Asheville, he took up bowling.
He decided early on that Parkinson’s would always be there, but our job was to give it respect and as little attention as possible. He lived that credo every day for 16 years. He had the disease, but it would be as small a part of him as he could make it.
Bob never stopped trying to improve his life or mine. He saw PD as an advantage other people don’t have: He presumed he had only so much time left, so he had to pack as much into his life as possible. We should all learn from that, PD or not.
Beth