I never met Glenn. He invited me to his house many times, but sadly never made it. I became good telephone friends with Glenn after I ordered my first knife from him several years ago and he was always a true gentleman. He was in Texas and I live in California and every so often I'd have packages of See's Candy mixed nuts sent to him from the See's Candy company. He told me they were the finest nuts he had ever eaten and he enjoyed them so much. He was so appreciative. He then would send me Spanish peanuts which I enjoyed so much.
A couple years after I got my first pocketknife from him, I would occasionally contact him to see how he was doing, but it was during a phone conversation I was having with Joe Kious when Joe let me know that Glenn's wife was very ill and was suffering from a variety of serious medical conditions. Joe was a good friend to Glenn.
I called Glenn as soon as I heard the news about his wife and he told me that she's in bad shape. He told me that sometimes she would fall down in the kitchen and would eventually fall sleep on the floor because Glenn couldn't lift her back up. I felt so sorry for him. I asked him why he didn't put her in a senior care facility. Glenn said that he's pretty old and was doing his best to take care of his wife on his own. He told me he couldn't afford to put her in a home. He had tried before, but for some reason he didn't qualify for financial aid from the state.
I asked him if he would give me temporary power-of-attorney and permission to work with the certain departments within the state of Texas, and the county, to see if I could make a case for him to have his wife taken care of. He happily agreed and I spent several hours on the phone with him gathering financial information that I would need.
The next day, I spent hours on the phone with various state and county departments. By the time I was done, I was able to persuade the state/county agency in charge of senior care to agree to pick up Glenn's wife at their home and take her to a very nice long-term care facility, near their home, where she could stay for good and be given proper care without any cost to him, and he would be close enough to visit her. 48 hours later, she was taken to the place. He was very thankful and it felt really special to help a friend I grew to care for. One I never met.
RIP, Glenn Marshall.
