Check on your neighbors!
TL:DR: Anyone know any family of Cathy Fielder of Garden City, age ~68?
This is kind of a shot in the dark, but it really does make me feel sad. A neighbor on our street kept herself pretty isolated. Literally burned bridges with the ones around her and the family members that did occasionally check in on her. Her health continually got worse over the years, which kept her inside even more.
Occasionally she would reach out to my dad (one of her immediate neighbors) and ask for some assistance. Recently it started turning into more of once a month. She would call him, write a check and write a list. Leave it on her porch and he return with the items. Leaving them on the porch for her to eventually come out and get them. She trusted no one to do this task otherwise, especially some random door dasher.
Well, last month was the last time he had heard from her and started to grow concerned. He called, no answer, which isn't uncommon for her. Knocked on the door, no answer. Which, again is not uncommon for her. Matter of fact, cops broke in her front door on a welfare check not to long ago because someone else couldn't get a hold of her.
Finally, last week he went even harder to find out what is going on, beating on doors and windows to no avail. So, he called in the welfare check. He assisted the police with a ladder to crawl in through a window. They found her on the floor, right up by the front door, "dead for a while" they said. Never did find out how long they estimated.
We hung around through the day, hoping someone would come for her. The only ones that showed are the cops, EMS, investigators and the coroner. They said they have called the contacts they knew of, left messages, but had not had any returned calls. We know she had a sister and a nephew, as those were the ones that occasionally checked on her. But, know that also was not the best of relations.
What I am hoping is that someone out there knew Cathy Fielder and maybe knows one of her family members. If you don't want to pass along the sad news then could you at least ask them to go by and see her neighbor David. It really comes down to all of us wanting some closure, to know that someone is out there that can finish taking care of the things that need to be finalized.