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In this photo essay I photographed my grandfather in his final days, and after he passed away, my father understanding his death. On the day of my grandfather's burial, I found a pamphlet in my Aunt and Uncles house titled, "The Dying Experience." On the last page, there was a poem by Henry Van Dyke. That is my Inspiration...
"I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
And that is dying..."
David Lyman with his father, Bill Lyman, on Apr. 20, 2000. (Family photo)
David Lyman helps his father, William Lyman (93), off the couch in Albion, N.Y. on Nov. 27, 2014.
William Lyman falls asleep on the couch in Albion, N.Y. on Nov. 27, 2014. His oxygen tube is wrapped around his hand.
William Lyman's oxygen tank runs all day and night in his bedroom in Albion, N.Y. on Nov, 27, 2014.
William Lyman falls asleep on the couch at his home in Albion, N.Y. on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 27, 2014.
The view from William Lyman's bedroom window on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 27, 2014.
The Military Salute during William Lyman's funeral on Dec. 10, 2014. William served in the army in WW II.
David Lyman holds the military bullets that were given to his family during the three-volley salute as he looks at family pictures of his father, William Lyman, on Dec. 10, 2014.
After getting off the phone with his sister Christine Lyman, a missionary nun in Brazil, David Lyman pauses to remember his father on Dec. 11, 2014. “He’s not in pain anymore,” he says with his eyes closed.
“Bill and his wife are back together again. Finally,” Joanne Lyman whispers as David Lyman adjusts the Navy grave marker at the Lyman grave in Albion, N.Y. on Dec. 11, 2014.
Joanne and David Lyman wear shirts that say “D. O. D. (Dear Old Dad) Turns 70!” to the quiet burial service on Dec. 11, 2014. The shirts were made for William Lyman's 70th birthday.
A bouquet of roses from the funeral is strapped in William Lyman's old car in Albion, N.Y. on Dec. 12, 2014. The banner attached to the flowers reads "Grandfather."
David Lyman holds the military bullets that were given to his family during the three-volley salute in Albion, N.Y. on Dec. 12, 2014. He has just lost his last living parent.