I feel intimidated being next to a person carrying arms. I tend to view guns for what they are, weapons. Weapons kill people. Every day you read about gun related accidents. But this past week, the first week of January, guns have united two couples in death. I’m writing about it because of the disparate circumstances.
When a shooting makes the news you learn about the victim(s) and the loved ones left behind. Mothers, siblings, kids and the mates. Husbands, wives, soul mates, partners, the whole gamut. When they both die, it’s generally murder-suicide. This was different—in both cases.
If you live in Arizona you heard or read about the deaths of Bill and Susan Heywood. Bill was a legend in the radio business and the couple was well known for their charitable work. They committed suicide, in the anonymity of a motel room, with two different guns, which, in my opinion, is a proclamation of “we are in this together, it is not a murder suicide.”
It was their way to say, our decision, our way. Together, forever. The Heywoods had been married 35 years.
Seventy miles north of Phoenix is picture perfect Sedona. A lovely, quiet town well known to new age people, artists and nature lovers. On Friday, January 6th, 2 days after the Heywoods’ deaths, the bodies of a New Hampshire couple were found there in their car, engine left running. They appeared to have been shot to death while still wearing their seat belts.
It was days before authorities released the name of the couple, so I assumed they were husband and wife. It turns out I was wrong. They had been traveling together, peaceful tourists, from the same town, about the same age. This was a senseless killing, the person who did this is now dead. These 2 people will be forever remembered as a couple. United by a gun?
I like to think that both couples found peace in death and maybe they met each other on their way to heaven. I like to picture them sitting together at a table for four, sipping iced tea under a large tree, talking about Arizona and how we could all be better off without guns.
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