April 30, 1972

"Charles M Long, May 4 1932 - March 4 2011

Written by Ken Long (Class of '75)

Charley died at the VA hospital in West Roxbury, Mass, early Fri morning. We had been waiting for a lower back operation, when his condition suddenly got a lot worse. We and his doctor considered this a part of the nerve damage that had been giving him pain for a long time, but an MRI showed a large infection around his spine, and testing confirmed a resilient form of Staph bacteria, a very dangerous infection.  The initial operations to clean out the infection went very well and his doctors were pleased and felt he had an excellent chance of recovery.  However, his heart went into arrythmia late Thur night and they werent able to bring him back.

This was fast and sudden, and although we had considered the possibility, everything was looking positive at the time.  We will all miss him so much.  He was truly a special person.