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Very interesting. Most of my former colleagues who have died were in their 80's at the time of death. I have attended some of the services. It seems like an odd cluster that so many of yours are dying so young. Do you think something about your line of work contributed to the many early deaths? Breathing toxic fumes, or anything like that? Did a large number of your co-workers smoke? Unusual and persistent stress?
To the OP: Yes, it is an odd feeling to note the passing of former co-workers, especially when they are not much older than we are. It is an inescapable part of aging, I think, to start losing one's friends and relatives. I had 25 first cousins, four of whom are gone, three of the four younger than I. There are a number of us clustered in the 67 to 72 age group, including the ones I am close to, and it will be odd and upsetting to lose them when that time comes.
Most worked in a factory environment, there were some chemical hazards but not many. The people on my list died from many different reasons. I can think of 3 that had brain cancer, some lung cancer, 2 committed suicide induced by medical issues, etc. I live in a semi skilled and skilled blue collar culture. In the area I live, most make their living from farming, ranching, trucking, construction. I was in a white collar engineering career so I spent most of my working life in a office environment.
My cousin passed last year from a heart attack, this makes me the oldest male in my family at 61. I can only think of maybe 5 people that have lived into their 80's and 90's. Even on this web site the demographics for my area shows males dieing very quickly after age 65. The street I live on there are only 5 acreages and in the 11 years we have lived here 3 of the men have died. I do not even have these men on my list.
At work I was talking to a actuary about the insurance estimates of life spans and he said that estimated life spans are based on only people that died from natural causes (whatever that is). If you died from unnatural causes you would not be included in the count. He continued to say that they kept the actual life span chart with no corrections for natural Vs unnatural and the life span estimates drop by 10 years when all deaths are include for any reason.
I don't think of myself as that old, so when I read in the company newsletter, which I still get, about the deaths of former co workers, I feel so odd. I mean it is hard to imagine that some of them have died, especially since I have not seen most of these people in so many years I can't picture them as old enough to die.
How do you feel when you find out someone you worked with died?
It makes me feel strange, and I am suddenly aware that someone will read my name in the future and know that I have died.
Happened to me just yesterday. Except, we both were / are still working and both the same age!
Most worked in a factory environment, there were some chemical hazards but not many. The people on my list died from many different reasons. I can think of 3 that had brain cancer, some lung cancer, 2 committed suicide induced by medical issues, etc. I live in a semi skilled and skilled blue collar culture. In the area I live, most make their living from farming, ranching, trucking, construction. I was in a white collar engineering career so I spent most of my working life in a office environment.
My cousin passed last year from a heart attack, this makes me the oldest male in my family at 61. I can only think of maybe 5 people that have lived into their 80's and 90's. Even on this web site the demographics for my area shows males dieing very quickly after age 65. The street I live on there are only 5 acreages and in the 11 years we have lived here 3 of the men have died. I do not even have these men on my list.
At work I was talking to a actuary about the insurance estimates of life spans and he said that estimated life spans are based on only people that died from natural causes (whatever that is). If you died from unnatural causes you would not be included in the count. He continued to say that they kept the actual life span chart with no corrections for natural Vs unnatural and the life span estimates drop by 10 years when all deaths are include for any reason.
In the first job of my ultimate profession, I worked with a small team for a few years. It was the first real job for most of us with all the typical tight friendships & affairs. One of the guys who I became closest with coincidently later mirrored some of my own movements in career city to city: we had dinner 10 years later in one city far removed from our start & 6 years after that he called out to me on the street of a entirely new city from a car as we were both in the middle of hurrying to work. We talked a few times on the phone afterwards.
A few years later, not that long ago actually, I determined to get together for drink or something, a bit more than 20 years had passed since we started out, we were in our early 50s now, I wanted to compare notes & have a laugh about the old days. I googled him for his phone number & came up with his obit from 5 months previous. This was a guy who had done triathalons.
About my 3-4th job in (in a completely different part of the country) myself & one other fellow, a nice guy, did the same job, but I was more experienced. When the project ended, about 1 year later, he & I interviewed for the same job, he got it because he had a particular talent in an specific area that I didn't. I harbored no ill will, even tho I was desperate for work by then, & felt he really was the right guy for that job.
I eventually moved, again, & about a year later I called someone from back there to chew the fat & catch up. Seems like my coworker & others was killed on the job in a helicopter crash, he was only in his 30s.
Since I am so geographically removed from most of the people I have known in the last 30-40 years I usually hear about the deaths well after the fact if at all.
I worked in the aviation field and a fair number of untimely deaths were caused by small aircraft accidents but one of the bigger shocks was a younger man about the age of my son should I have had kids died of a heart attack suddenly. In our field we retire early and scatter to the four winds but I'm sure in a few years, the deaths will start in earnest though I probably won't hear about many of them.
In the past four years I lost two people, both younger than I by at least 10 years, both in their early 50's and both to heart attacks.
I trained them, they were supposed to outlast me by at least 10 years and not both are gone.
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