Death
When word of Buck's dire situation reached Texas, Dallas County Sheriff R.A."Smoot" Schmid wrote a letter of introduction to the local authorities for Buck and Clyde's mother Cumie, and a deputy sheriff provided money to help her cover the costs of the 36-hour drive to Iowa by Model-A. She and her youngest son LC arrived for Buck's last conscious hours. As his pneumonia strengthened he became delirious and finally slipped into a coma, from which he did not wake.
Henry and Cumie Barrow put off buying a gravestone for Buck. They were sure Clyde would follow him into death any day, and whether for practical or loving reasons or a mix of both, decided to wait for Clyde. Clyde liked the idea and suggested the epitaph to go over himself and his brother: "Gone But Not Forgotten."
On Buck and Clyde's shared gravestone, Buck's year of birth is incorrect. His mother gave the stonecutters their sister Nell's birth year for him. However, she had recorded the birth dates of all her children in the family Bible; there, Buck's birthdate is 1903.
Read more about this topic: Buck Barrow
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“It is not love you will find:
You have no limbs
Crying for stillness, you have no mind
Trembling with seraphim,
You have no death to come.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“...here he is, fully alive, and it is hard to picture him fully dead. Death is thirty-three hours away and here we are talking about the brain size of birds and bloodhounds and hunting in the woods. You can only attend to death for so long before the life force sucks you right in again.”
—Helen Prejean (b. 1940)
“Lucas: You’re the Democratic nominee for Senator.
John McKay: You make that sound like a death sentence.”
—Jeremy Larner, U.S. screenwriter. Lucas (Peter Boyle)