Last Friday the community of Garden City lost an orthopedic surgeon to a traffic accident. WHILE OUR days on this glorious Earth are numbered, we should do our level best to live them as God intended.
Dr. Michael Baughman was killed from injuries he sustained in a one-vehicle rollover accident. He was not wearing a seatbelt when his 2008 Ford F150 pickup left the road and Baughman lost control.
Baughman, 58, leaves behind a wife and three daughters.
The community, including area high schools and Garden City Community College, is now without a major medical provider.
One can’t help but wonder if he were wearing a seatbelt the outcome would have been otherwise.
Elsewhere across the nation came news of Robert Pastor, a White House aide under President Jimmy Carter, dying at age 66 from colon cancer.
Pastor was an expert on Latin American affairs with advanced degrees from Harvard. He had served with the Peace Corps and from there went to the National Security Council, where he became an expert in Central American affairs.
After he left the Carter administration he worked on fostering relations between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Again, one wonders if Pastor’s untimely death could have been averted with a routine colonoscopy.
And on Monday, Ken Hoang, 26, of St. Paul, Minn., died when he tried to retrieve a cell phone he had dropped into the Chicago River.
The icy waters also claimed the life of a young woman, 21, when she tried to rescue Hoag. Her body remains missing.
Another friend, age 23, remains hospitalized from the rescue attempt.
For the sake of your loved ones, your community, be mindful of your actions. Take care of your health.
Each life is precious.
You are valued and needed.
— Susan Lynn
Lessons on life come with heavy toll
