Death of a friend - Bill

This is a short chronicle of photos taken between July and October 2012 of my friend Bill's end of life experience. It was during my first visit that I discovered Bill was bedridden - with an inoperable brain tumor. The series of photos was made during three visits in 2012 to Bill's home in Northern California for his daughter's July 7 wedding, and then again on August 5 and October 27. I was not able to visit there again before Bill died on December 12, 2012.
At my age, death is becoming a more common life event. Though I am not in any hurry for the experience, mortality holds the allure of certainty. Bill and I had been at odds in our younger years. He was the teenager next door who worked on cars in his basement and played loud music. We were next door neighbors but not necessarily friends at the time. When Bill and his wife Fran moved to northern California we became friends and I visited them several times at their original residence and then in the home where Bill and Fran lived and where he eventually died many years later.
Fran gave me permission to publish whatever photos of my last three trips that I wanted. I have tried to respect to Bill's memory and his family's. Some of the photos are haunting but I hope you will accept them as a loving tribute to a dying friend.
All the photographs in this series were made with my Canon EOS 60D.
Charlie Wambeke - photographer