Town creates Alabama man’s last wish: his kids around a fire, roasting marshmallows
An Alabama town pooled its resources over the weekend to make a dying man’s final wish come true: Tommy Epperly wanted to see his family gathered around a bonfire on the beach, roasting marshmallows.
It happened Saturday night on Dauphin Island, 40 miles south of Mobile, and the community supplied everything from a beach house to a giant pile of wood next to the Gulf of Mexico, according to a Dauphin Island Facebook group.
Tables, chairs, margaritas, marshmallows — it was all waiting when the family from Theodore, Alabama, walked onto the beach, residents posted.
Epperly, 49, has advanced pancreatic cancer and could die any day, his wife Erica Ramsey-Epperly told TV station WALA. He was too ill Saturday night to walk to the beach, but his dream still came true, she wrote on Facebook.
“The reason for this was for the kids to have a good memory to think back on. That was what Tommy wanted. They played on the beach, ran around and laughed so much. It was the most beautiful sound hearing them being kids, without thinking about what is to come, even if just for a day,” she posted on Facebook.
“It was the most amazing thing that I have ever experienced. From the moment we arrived on the island, there were signs welcoming our family. Tommy felt like a rock star when he saw the information sign lit up for us and the family. He was laughing when he saw the police and firetruck there with the lights on.”
Jane Covel Walton of Dauphin Island was the key organizer behind the event, which included a fundraiser for the Epperly family’s expenses, according to a Facebook post.
It started when Walton saw a post by Erica Ramsey-Epperly explaining her husband’s final wish: “He wants to sit on the beach at dusk with a bonfire. Is there anywhere I can do that for him?”
Walton’s husband also has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and she felt an instant connection, she told McClatchy News.
“I am walking in her shoes, just not to the point that she and her family are yet,” Walton said. “It was a labor of love for me. There’s just no way I was going to let him die without having his last wish fulfilled.”
Erica Ramsey-Epperly thanked the island in a series of Facebook updates, noting her husband was able to “watch the sunset right through the door” of the beach cottage.
“Once the fire was down a bit, Tommy’s wish was granted, the kids got their s’mores and it was just like it used to be,” she posted. “From a simple post about how to get a permit for the fire on the beach, to the changing of our lives. Thank you! We shall forever be grateful for what has been done for us.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Town creates Alabama man’s last wish: his kids around a fire, roasting marshmallows."