Louie

Louie

Louis  Galletti, was one of the men who I have taken care of over the years, probably the most colorful, intelligent and complex, and because of the most memorable.  He had numerous physical handicap’s that he had to deal with over the years, but they never keep his exuberant spirit down for long.  His hearing had been well below average all of his life, and because of his age, he would be in his 90’s if he was still alive today....He did not have the luxury of hearing aids when he was young, and being poor he could not have afforded them anyway.  From what he communicated to me, he came over by himself as a very young lad from Italy, and had a hard time of it just making a living.  He also had a speech impediment due most likely to his hearing problem.  To top it off, in 1968 he had to have one leg amputated because of bone cancer; which he never really got over.  He thought the doctor could have done something else for him; so once in awhile out of the blue he would start on a rant about the doctor, then it subsided for another month or so. Nothing passive aggressive about this guy. He also had severe phantom pains, that would cause him to yell out very loudly when the pains would hit him, but thankfully they would only last for a short while, and he would soon be back to his old self once again.

He was always cheerful, at least with me…… was reading all the time; could expound on Tiehard De Chardin for hours on end, and always had one of his books in hand.  Because of his hearing disability and poverty, he was never able to get a good education, which I feel was a great loss, for I think that he was a natural philosopher who was never able to learn how to express his thoughts in such a way that others could follow him.

Toward the end of his life I used to get him up in the morning, and the first thing I would do is his give him a pain pill, and his “pick me up” as he would call it; just orange juice, but something he always loved.  One morning he was feeling really bad and kept saying, my Kinks, my Kinks, I have so many Kinks; he then looked at me, smiled and said, “but who would Louie be without his kinks”, then he laughed, and I  whisked him off to the shower.  How I got him to take a shower everyday, and get to like it, is another story that I may tell later.

Louie was “himself” in the extreme, not in any kind of “in your face” way, but just quietly “himself”.  One day he was at a table talking to some guest that came in, and without batting an eye, he calmly reached under the table; pulled off his artificial leg, pulled it out, and used it as a prop for this left arm pit.  He had no idea the effect it would have on people!  Some smiled, one laughed, and two others just went blank, and very quietly got up and left the table.  I was in the back of the room, and when I saw it, and I had to run into the kitchen because I was laughing so hard and loudly.  Yes he was “himself”, no doubt about it.

I still miss him, though he has been dead for almost 15 years now, a very unique man indeed.

Peace

Mitch

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