Bobcat
02-20-2012, 09:38 AM
The KW Library has this book. I'll check it out.
Museum recalls a man's epic voyage of life and death
BY MANDY MILES Citizen Staff
mmiles@keysnews.com
An odyssey that started aboard a 29-foot motorboat eight years ago is now complete and the dreams of a highly regarded Key West man have been fulfilled seven years after his death.
Gib Peters was a banker, philanthropist and vice chairman of the nonprofit Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society until 2003, when a string of troubling symptoms turned into a deadly diagnosis: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The disease claims the body before the mind, but Peters refused to relinquish either of them without a fight or before he completed a solo voyage up the Intracoastal Waterway on the 29-foot Wellcraft he called Ka-ching.
He was gone for seven months; alone on a boat and staring death in the eye while keeping an insightful and often wry journal of his travels, trials and triumphs.
His speech was already slurred by the disease and the muscles in his throat could not be trusted to follow orders given by his brain, so Peters used a feeding tube to deliver nourishing liquids. His wife, Marsha, arranged for cases of the dietary supplements and other necessary supplies to be waiting for Peters at each of his planned stops along the route from Key West to the Hudson River in New York.
The Citizen published a weekly series of his emailed missives that were becoming increasingly difficult for Peters to type. He died 84 days after returning to Key West, and before he was able to publish his journals as a book.
Dr, William Bradley started as Peters' neurologist at University of Miami Hospital, but became a close friend, who encouraged his determined patient to turn the travel diary into a book.
"I told him before he died that if no one else did it, I would make sure the book was published," Bradley said Sunday following a book-signing and tribute to Peters sponsored by the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. "It became a labor of love; it's almost a thank-you to Gib for leaving us with his insights."
The book, "Gib's Odyssey," was released earlier this year, and is "about 75 to 80 percent Gib," Bradley said.
He wrote the final chapters and weaved his patient's journal entries and e-mail missives into a captivating tale of life, death and the courage demanded by both.
Peters had to teach himself to steer the boat with his feet when his arms stopped obeying his commands. He lost and then found the only mate who accompanied him on the journey; his cat.
Bradley read passages from the book on Sunday, as community members bought books and remembered Peters, who died in February 2005.
"This was so enjoyable and a perfect way to remember Gib," said Melissa Kendrick, executive director of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, who called Peters "our Renaissance man" and credited him with negotiating the museum's purchase of the Greene Street building that houses its historic maritime collections.
A couple from Savannah, Ga., walked into the book-signing Sunday, and said they had encountered Peters on the Intracoastal Waterway, Kendrick said.
"Gib would always find a way to make something happen, whether through tactful negotiations or creative solutions; he just got it done," Kendrick said.
The release of his book is his final accomplishment, and in finding in Bradley both a prominent neurologist and a trusted friend, Peters, even in death, made the book happen.
Signed copies are available for $24.95 at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, 200 Greene St., and online at www.melfisher.org. Proceeds will help continued Peters' support of the museum that he cherished. Unsigned copies are available through Amazon.com
mmiles@keysnews.com
Museum recalls a man's epic voyage of life and death
BY MANDY MILES Citizen Staff
mmiles@keysnews.com
An odyssey that started aboard a 29-foot motorboat eight years ago is now complete and the dreams of a highly regarded Key West man have been fulfilled seven years after his death.
Gib Peters was a banker, philanthropist and vice chairman of the nonprofit Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society until 2003, when a string of troubling symptoms turned into a deadly diagnosis: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The disease claims the body before the mind, but Peters refused to relinquish either of them without a fight or before he completed a solo voyage up the Intracoastal Waterway on the 29-foot Wellcraft he called Ka-ching.
He was gone for seven months; alone on a boat and staring death in the eye while keeping an insightful and often wry journal of his travels, trials and triumphs.
His speech was already slurred by the disease and the muscles in his throat could not be trusted to follow orders given by his brain, so Peters used a feeding tube to deliver nourishing liquids. His wife, Marsha, arranged for cases of the dietary supplements and other necessary supplies to be waiting for Peters at each of his planned stops along the route from Key West to the Hudson River in New York.
The Citizen published a weekly series of his emailed missives that were becoming increasingly difficult for Peters to type. He died 84 days after returning to Key West, and before he was able to publish his journals as a book.
Dr, William Bradley started as Peters' neurologist at University of Miami Hospital, but became a close friend, who encouraged his determined patient to turn the travel diary into a book.
"I told him before he died that if no one else did it, I would make sure the book was published," Bradley said Sunday following a book-signing and tribute to Peters sponsored by the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. "It became a labor of love; it's almost a thank-you to Gib for leaving us with his insights."
The book, "Gib's Odyssey," was released earlier this year, and is "about 75 to 80 percent Gib," Bradley said.
He wrote the final chapters and weaved his patient's journal entries and e-mail missives into a captivating tale of life, death and the courage demanded by both.
Peters had to teach himself to steer the boat with his feet when his arms stopped obeying his commands. He lost and then found the only mate who accompanied him on the journey; his cat.
Bradley read passages from the book on Sunday, as community members bought books and remembered Peters, who died in February 2005.
"This was so enjoyable and a perfect way to remember Gib," said Melissa Kendrick, executive director of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, who called Peters "our Renaissance man" and credited him with negotiating the museum's purchase of the Greene Street building that houses its historic maritime collections.
A couple from Savannah, Ga., walked into the book-signing Sunday, and said they had encountered Peters on the Intracoastal Waterway, Kendrick said.
"Gib would always find a way to make something happen, whether through tactful negotiations or creative solutions; he just got it done," Kendrick said.
The release of his book is his final accomplishment, and in finding in Bradley both a prominent neurologist and a trusted friend, Peters, even in death, made the book happen.
Signed copies are available for $24.95 at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, 200 Greene St., and online at www.melfisher.org. Proceeds will help continued Peters' support of the museum that he cherished. Unsigned copies are available through Amazon.com
mmiles@keysnews.com