BILL DAVID MARCUM
Bill David Marcum was born December 3, 1963 in Pikeville, KY to William David and Nancy Jane Aldrdige Marcum. He was preceded in death by one sister, Kimberly. Bill went to HEAVEN April 25, 2010 at the Pikeville Medical Center in Pikeville, KY.
How do I begin to tell the complex story about Bill David? Yes, his life was one of much pain, but it was so much more. He lived many of the last 40 of his 46 years in a haze of pain but still preservered. Many would have given up long ago, but not Bill. He didn't think only of himself. He just didn't want to cause more hurt to his parents whom he so dearly loved by leaving them as he knew the depth of their agony when his only sister went to Heaven in 1990.
In January of 1971, Nancy and I took Bill to Ashland to see a doctor about a knee injury he had received at school when he was six. I remember that day, because when we returned from Ashland his grandfather, Everett, had been taken to the hospital with a heart attack. Bill was swinging on the playground when a garbage can being carried by 8th graders struck his knee, and he was never completely pain free again. He later had a run in with a car on his little motorcycle and received further injury to his leg.
Bill went on with his life doing the things kids do even with his knee injury. He went to school, roamed and played, went hunting with his Dad, was in a band, learned to ski, and loved Michael Jordan.
He and his good friend, David L., started a business which is still in existence. Bill was called Bo by David L.'s daughter's, Ashley & Kristen, which was a name he really liked.
Bill loved computers, so he went to DeVry University in Columbus. He was a genius when it came to all things to do with a computer. I remember he was on crutches when he came home from school for Kim's funeral.
He left school in 1991 after becoming really ill and was later diagnosed with cancer. He's had surgeries, chemo, radiation, and all the horrible treatments associated with cancer and the damages to his body caused by the treatments. His parents took him to any treatment center where they thought he could be helped. Bill got to the point till he said he wasn't doing anymore treatments. I can't begin to list all the procedures he had done to his leg over the years.
During the illness of cancer and his hurting leg, he began a computer business from his bedroom. He had been offered a position with AT&T when he finished school. Bill was one of an elite few people in the world who had true computer genius - from building them to thinking of different uses for them. His friend from DeVry went on to work for AT&T and remained close friends with Bill. Together they would work on problems. If his friend had to be off, he would turn his job over to Bill during that time. Their phone would ring 24 hours a day during those times with Bill advising others on how to repair a problem for that large company.
Bill had a small circle of friends around the world who loved to just think up computer problems to be solved. His understanding of such things knew no bounds.
His computer business grew until it took over much of their home. There were computers and computer parts everywhere you looked. His parents had a room built across the width of their house which was wheelchair accessible. Still, computers and their parts drifted out of that room and into others. There would be times when he wouldn't sleep for two or three days as he said he had too much to do. There was no talking to him when he was in one of his working modes or problem solving modes.
He built me a computer and would tell me how to do computer things. I'd usually forget most of it in a few days and would have to ask again. He'd just shake his head that people couldn't remember such things. I had him rolling his eyes and giving that little laugh of his many times when I couldn't figure out something which was so simple to him, but he continued to help me. When I would tear one up and take it to him to be repaired, I'd often call to see if my computer was ready. He'd say, "No, I had to use your motherboard for so and so and use another of your parts for someone else. These people really needed their computers for work. But, when their parts come in I will fix yours." He kinda begged from Peter to pay Paul at times when it came to computer parts.
Then there was the computer game playing side of Bill. He loved computer games and for Tommy and Tyler Layne to play with as they were growing up. He loved for his cousins to come play games with him, watch ballgames, or just visit. Bill was up on all the latest in games, and my grandson's thought he was just so cool.
His life wasn't just comprised of four walls. With his computer knowledge, he had the world at his fingertips with just the click of a mouse. With that computer, he roamed the world.
The love he and his parents had for each other knew no bounds. Until David had his accident, he worked long hours to make sure Bill would always be provided for. Bill was always in his thoughts. Nancy took such excellent loving care of Bill. No child could have been Blessed with more loving and caring parents, and he knew this and loved them the same way. After David's illness began, Nancy told me one day a year or so ago that she lived one day at a time just caring for them. She said that each day she walked into Bill's room to check on him that she thanked GOD for that day.
Bill tried to stay positive and never more so than after he had his near death experience in the ambulance on the way to Lexington a couple of years ago. He told a lady named Audrey after that experience that "dying was like being wrapped in a blanket of joy".
When his Uncle Jimmy got sick last year, one of the first things Jimmy wanted to do when he was able to get around was to go visit David, Nancy, and Bill. He went in and talked with Bill for a while. Here is this young man lying in bed unable to straighten his head, with one eye gone, and one leg. Bill said, "Look on it this way Uncle. I lost a leg, but I still have one. I lost an eye, but I still have one. I have two hands. You have to look on the positive side." Jimmy and I came home and cried and cried as we were so humbled by that experience.
In the sunset year of Bill's life, he fell in love with a lovely young lady named Tammy. She had suffered since childhood with a disease that struck her at a young age. Like Bill, she didn't let her illness stop her. She graduated from UK. They were both in wheelchairs. They understood each other as most of us can't understand someone who has had a lifetime of suffering. The both had positive outlooks on life. She loved him as he loved her. Oh yes, I forgot to say that they met because he had to tell her how to repair her computer. Tammy went to Heaven last December leaving Bill with a broken heart as Bill said he had lost the love of his life.
Bill's story wouldn't be complete without my telling about the wonderful care he received through the years from Dr. King and his staff. No family could have received better treatment from a doctor than did David, Nancy, and Bill.
Bill had a horrible battle with his health this month which often resulted in him having hallucinations. During one of these times when his cousin Dougie wasn't present, Bill said, "Dougie, tell Mikie everything is fixed up. I have all my affairs in order." Nancy and her cousin Madge took wonderful care of him during his last hospital stay. He said he was going to HEAVEN.
As soon as I heard of Bill's passing, my favorite Bible verse from 2nd Timothy 6 & 7 came to mind, "...the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." I can just hear the MASTER telling him, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Monday afternoon I was waiting on my grandson's to get out of school. Our 8 year old got in the car first. I said, "Noah, I have something sad to tell you." After I told him about Bill's passing, he looked at me and said, "Now he has two eyes, two legs, he can walk, and he's not sick." As it say in Psalms 55:6, "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove for then I would fly away and be at rest." Bill has flown away and is at rest. Noah was right. Bill is no longer in pain. He is with his beloved sister, the love of his life - Tammy, and MOST OF ALL THE HEAVENLY FATHER.
Bill David Marcum was born December 3, 1963 in Pikeville, KY to William David and Nancy Jane Aldrdige Marcum. He was preceded in death by one sister, Kimberly. Bill went to HEAVEN April 25, 2010 at the Pikeville Medical Center in Pikeville, KY.
How do I begin to tell the complex story about Bill David? Yes, his life was one of much pain, but it was so much more. He lived many of the last 40 of his 46 years in a haze of pain but still preservered. Many would have given up long ago, but not Bill. He didn't think only of himself. He just didn't want to cause more hurt to his parents whom he so dearly loved by leaving them as he knew the depth of their agony when his only sister went to Heaven in 1990.
In January of 1971, Nancy and I took Bill to Ashland to see a doctor about a knee injury he had received at school when he was six. I remember that day, because when we returned from Ashland his grandfather, Everett, had been taken to the hospital with a heart attack. Bill was swinging on the playground when a garbage can being carried by 8th graders struck his knee, and he was never completely pain free again. He later had a run in with a car on his little motorcycle and received further injury to his leg.
Bill went on with his life doing the things kids do even with his knee injury. He went to school, roamed and played, went hunting with his Dad, was in a band, learned to ski, and loved Michael Jordan.
He and his good friend, David L., started a business which is still in existence. Bill was called Bo by David L.'s daughter's, Ashley & Kristen, which was a name he really liked.
Bill loved computers, so he went to DeVry University in Columbus. He was a genius when it came to all things to do with a computer. I remember he was on crutches when he came home from school for Kim's funeral.
He left school in 1991 after becoming really ill and was later diagnosed with cancer. He's had surgeries, chemo, radiation, and all the horrible treatments associated with cancer and the damages to his body caused by the treatments. His parents took him to any treatment center where they thought he could be helped. Bill got to the point till he said he wasn't doing anymore treatments. I can't begin to list all the procedures he had done to his leg over the years.
During the illness of cancer and his hurting leg, he began a computer business from his bedroom. He had been offered a position with AT&T when he finished school. Bill was one of an elite few people in the world who had true computer genius - from building them to thinking of different uses for them. His friend from DeVry went on to work for AT&T and remained close friends with Bill. Together they would work on problems. If his friend had to be off, he would turn his job over to Bill during that time. Their phone would ring 24 hours a day during those times with Bill advising others on how to repair a problem for that large company.
Bill had a small circle of friends around the world who loved to just think up computer problems to be solved. His understanding of such things knew no bounds.
His computer business grew until it took over much of their home. There were computers and computer parts everywhere you looked. His parents had a room built across the width of their house which was wheelchair accessible. Still, computers and their parts drifted out of that room and into others. There would be times when he wouldn't sleep for two or three days as he said he had too much to do. There was no talking to him when he was in one of his working modes or problem solving modes.
He built me a computer and would tell me how to do computer things. I'd usually forget most of it in a few days and would have to ask again. He'd just shake his head that people couldn't remember such things. I had him rolling his eyes and giving that little laugh of his many times when I couldn't figure out something which was so simple to him, but he continued to help me. When I would tear one up and take it to him to be repaired, I'd often call to see if my computer was ready. He'd say, "No, I had to use your motherboard for so and so and use another of your parts for someone else. These people really needed their computers for work. But, when their parts come in I will fix yours." He kinda begged from Peter to pay Paul at times when it came to computer parts.
Then there was the computer game playing side of Bill. He loved computer games and for Tommy and Tyler Layne to play with as they were growing up. He loved for his cousins to come play games with him, watch ballgames, or just visit. Bill was up on all the latest in games, and my grandson's thought he was just so cool.
His life wasn't just comprised of four walls. With his computer knowledge, he had the world at his fingertips with just the click of a mouse. With that computer, he roamed the world.
The love he and his parents had for each other knew no bounds. Until David had his accident, he worked long hours to make sure Bill would always be provided for. Bill was always in his thoughts. Nancy took such excellent loving care of Bill. No child could have been Blessed with more loving and caring parents, and he knew this and loved them the same way. After David's illness began, Nancy told me one day a year or so ago that she lived one day at a time just caring for them. She said that each day she walked into Bill's room to check on him that she thanked GOD for that day.
Bill tried to stay positive and never more so than after he had his near death experience in the ambulance on the way to Lexington a couple of years ago. He told a lady named Audrey after that experience that "dying was like being wrapped in a blanket of joy".
When his Uncle Jimmy got sick last year, one of the first things Jimmy wanted to do when he was able to get around was to go visit David, Nancy, and Bill. He went in and talked with Bill for a while. Here is this young man lying in bed unable to straighten his head, with one eye gone, and one leg. Bill said, "Look on it this way Uncle. I lost a leg, but I still have one. I lost an eye, but I still have one. I have two hands. You have to look on the positive side." Jimmy and I came home and cried and cried as we were so humbled by that experience.
In the sunset year of Bill's life, he fell in love with a lovely young lady named Tammy. She had suffered since childhood with a disease that struck her at a young age. Like Bill, she didn't let her illness stop her. She graduated from UK. They were both in wheelchairs. They understood each other as most of us can't understand someone who has had a lifetime of suffering. The both had positive outlooks on life. She loved him as he loved her. Oh yes, I forgot to say that they met because he had to tell her how to repair her computer. Tammy went to Heaven last December leaving Bill with a broken heart as Bill said he had lost the love of his life.
Bill's story wouldn't be complete without my telling about the wonderful care he received through the years from Dr. King and his staff. No family could have received better treatment from a doctor than did David, Nancy, and Bill.
Bill had a horrible battle with his health this month which often resulted in him having hallucinations. During one of these times when his cousin Dougie wasn't present, Bill said, "Dougie, tell Mikie everything is fixed up. I have all my affairs in order." Nancy and her cousin Madge took wonderful care of him during his last hospital stay. He said he was going to HEAVEN.
As soon as I heard of Bill's passing, my favorite Bible verse from 2nd Timothy 6 & 7 came to mind, "...the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." I can just hear the MASTER telling him, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Monday afternoon I was waiting on my grandson's to get out of school. Our 8 year old got in the car first. I said, "Noah, I have something sad to tell you." After I told him about Bill's passing, he looked at me and said, "Now he has two eyes, two legs, he can walk, and he's not sick." As it say in Psalms 55:6, "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove for then I would fly away and be at rest." Bill has flown away and is at rest. Noah was right. Bill is no longer in pain. He is with his beloved sister, the love of his life - Tammy, and MOST OF ALL THE HEAVENLY FATHER.
this was wrote by Karen Nelson Marcum and read at Bill Davids celebration of Life Service 4 -29-2010
Thanks for sharing!!!
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