Jack Flanagan - Part 2

I would be remiss if I did not mention when Jack Flanagan died.  Death is not always the most positive topic to discuss but it is rather integral to genealogy and developing the timeline of the past.  I do not have Jack's death certificate but I can imagine what it says.

John Francis Flanagan died on May 20, 1936, in the Flanagan Ranch House, Carneros, Napa, California.  He died of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig's disease.  The irony comes from the fact that my grandfather, one of Jack's sons, played baseball.  Baseball meant so much to my grandfather.  I often wonder what his family including his father, thought of that.  Anyway, I am certain that because of the baseball connection, a lasting impression of this disease remained within my family line.  Also, it was maybe not the most common reason for death back in the 1930s and before those times.

ALS is a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons.  Even today, the medical profession is uncertain of what causes ALS.  Exposure to toxins, possibily heavy metals, is indicated online as a possible cause.  Well, that's not very much to go on.  I also know someone whose stepfather died of ALS just last Fall 2009.  It is an unforgiving disease and there is no cure to this day.

So did Jack die from ALS?  I am 99% sure.  If someone else has information out there, do share.

To be continued...............