“Just living the dream.”
Those were among Eugene Earl Spoon’s last words to her daughter in a mailed card received by Gina Heller on the same day she was informed of his remains being found in the rubble of the burned hotel he was staying at during a bucket-list moose-hunting trip in Newfoundland, Canada.
A Kansas farm boy turned successful insurance salesman, Spoon was 77.
According to a report by The Canadian Press, the remains of the avid hunter were recovered on October 23 after the Driftwood Inn in Deer Lake was destroyed in a fire on October 19.
Before being notified of her missing father, Heller was able to hear from Spoon about his dream come true after successfully hunting a Newfoundland moose. The phone call was placed the night before the fire.
Additionally, in his card that arrived last week, Spoon wrote: “Just living the dream. Life is to be experienced. I’m doing that.”
Deer Lake Mayor Mike Goosney, meanwhile, said Spoon’s family requested that the meat from the moose be donated to a local food bank or charity.
It was reported that Spoon, whose wife (Heller’s stepmother) died in December 2023, had two daughters, six grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
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