From his posts I always thought of him as a gentleman and friend. I’m sorry to learn that he’ll be leaving us.

Prayers sent.

Ohhh wow so sorry to hear this. I’m sure WESHOWE doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall but like others have said his posts were always respectful, worth reading and will be missed.

Prayers and kind thoughts to Wes and family

We went back in the late morning yesterday and had two more short visits with him. My daughter, who still lives in Oregon, joined us yesterday to give Wes some encouragement while he's still with us. Yesterday they drained 1.2 liters of fluid from his lungs. After that, they gave him some strong drugs and we spent most of the afternoon watching him sleep. I have met briefly with his wife and his twin sister.

His breathing has been very labored and he wakes up periodically with a look of shock or surprise, with wide-eyes, as he has to constantly re-assess where he is and who is around him.

He cannot whisper more than a word or two before having to catch his breath. On Tuesday, his blood oxygen levels were around 85. Yesterday, his levels were in the high 90's. I was seriously concerned that we were not going to make it in time to see him. Thankfully, he has held on a little while longer.

His wife and sister have expressed how much his mood has changed once he found out that we were able to visit. He has also been encouraged by the kind words that you have all expressed in this thread.

Thank you again.

Tony.

Glad you made it Tony. I am sure it means A LOT to him you came. God Bless you all.
And thank you for sharing that he has a lot of friends here that care too.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old rugged cross,

I just got done personally reading every post in this thread to him. Many thanks and tears.

Tony.

Wow! Thank you! Glad you are able to spend time with him.

I don't think I ever interacted directly with Wes, but I do remember that his posts often got my attention. Thank you for being there with him.

Prayers.

You are a righteous man, sir. That's a fine honor.

Credit for the suggestion goes to Mustang-PaPa.

That is an awesome tribute to the both of them. Thanks Para.

Wow para, very appropriate. Well done sir.

And thanks for being there for Wes and his family, Benny. I am sure they appreciate it more than you can imagine.

Thank you Tony for being with him and his family during this time.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Wes and his family.

I have a lot of respect for Wes. The man knows rifles, and I’ve enjoyed seeing some of his collection and hearing his thoughts on the M14 in particular over the years. He was respectful and courteous even when prodded on occasion. The rifle forum will be diminished with his loss.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The Mason-Howe Rifle Room

The Rifle section is dedicated to Jim Mason (horse) and Wes Howe (Weshowe) whose contributions will not be forgotten

I just noticed that. Very appropriate.

Thank you for commemorating Wes with the rifles section! I will make sure he knows about it!

Anthony and I are at PDX right now waiting for our flights. This is a report from "Wood" this morning:

He said he really loved hearing the 6 Pages of support (four pages from M14forum and two pages from Sigforum) from the guys. I'm happy to read more... ...After getting platelets he is feeling pretty good,...

...they (the platelets) last a day or so and then his O2 and immune system slide back.

Last night we talked a bit and he was in tears about how much you guys mean to him and how much you have lifted his spirits. We[s] went from "I'm dying please let me die" To "I can't wait to get back to the range."

I think Tony coming out really [h]ad an impact on him. Wes being Wes said he felt guilty about how much it must have cost to fly out on short notice. He always puts other people first. He is a huge hearted guy and loves his friends more than he does his own life.

I told Wood to check back on this page and to read any new comments that are posted after I left. So although we have left, we do have Wood there to keep Wes updated.

I took a screen shot of the "Mason-Howe" page and told Wood to share that screen shot with Wes.

Yesterday was such a heavy day for all of us. I've never had a chance to say goodbye to a loved one the way I did with Wes. Now that I'm not posting on my phone, I can elaborate a little more on what happened yesterday.


First of all, Wes was like a different person completely from the Wes we saw on Wednesday! He was very out of it on Wednesday and we pretty much just watched him sleep. He could only get out a couple of whispers.

By Thursday (after draining 1.2 liters of fluid out of his lungs and getting platelets) he was way more alert and coherent. He could almost talk like normal. I put a couple of people on speaker phone and let them talk to Wes. Also, my daughter felt compelled to have one last visit with Wes as well and she skipped out on her classes yesterday to give Wes one final visit.

I then began reading messages from you all. As I was about half way through reading the messages, I made the mistake of looking up. Everyone in the room was in tears. Well then "the allergies" hit me and I was struggling to read the rest of the messages. I can't express enough how moving it was for him to hear all of your messages.

After that, Wes' sister showed up and we all shared some stories and laughs together.

When it was time to go, we each said our final goodbye's. It was tough, but we all felt we gave him a proper send-off. I think we were all in a fog for the rest of the day and we needed a night to clear our heads.

We're now on our way home and we've asked Wood to take it from here. Thank you, Wood, for being there for him and for us. You are a great man and Wes appreciates your friendship very much! He spoke very highly of you!

Here are some images I have of Wes going back to 2015.
Digging through some old images...









































Tony.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: benny6,

Thank you Tony, for the background information, and for giving us the opportunity to let Wes know he matters to us.

Appreciate that update Tony. I'm sure your visit meant the world to Wes. He had touched many lives on here and that is quite a legacy for him. Best wishes to Wes and his family.