Reverend Max Bishop

I could have OCR-scanned this entire letter.
But I think I’ll do only what’s pertinent.
“It has been six months since the death of your loved one. ... Again, we are reminding you that we are here for you. You are not alone. ... Please call if you need additional services, including someone to talk to. I can be reached at 1-800-253-4439 or 315-789-9821. My extension is 3030.”
First of all, “Ontario-Yates Hospice” is the hospice we used. My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17 of this year. I miss her dearly.
Ontario and Yates are New York counties. I (we) live(d) in Ontario county.
“315” is Ontario-Yates Hospice’ area-code.
Rev. Bishop has a tickler. It informed him my wife’s death was six months ago. Congratulations, Rev. Bishop.
Ontario-Yates Hospice was not religiously based; although I wonder about Rev. Bishop’s title.
“Please call if you need additional services......”
Ahem, I have; but only because Rev. Bishop encouraged me to attend his non-denominational grief-share.
I didn’t. It was 45 minutes from my house. I figured I couldn’t leave my dog alone in my house over four hours.
I attended a closer grief-share only 25 minutes from my house.
But that one was church-sponsored, although they weren’t obnoxious about it.
If they had been I would have split.
So I attempted to call Rev. Bishop a few times.
I got a machine at Ontario-Yates Hospice, and then an answering-machine at Extension 3030.
I left messages at least twice, but Rev. Bishop never called back.
This reminds me of the old Rodney Dangerfield joke: “I called the suicide-prevention hotline, and got put on hold.”
The death of a loved-one is serious. The bereaved can become suicidal, although I’m not.
I don’t think Rev. Bishop should have himself protected by a machine.
I don’t think he should be screening his phonecalls.

• “OCR-scanning” (optical-character-recognition) is to scan a text-document (like a letter). The OCR software then “reads” the document and converts it into a computer text-file.
• My current dog is “Scarlett” (two “Ts,” as in Scarlett O’Hara), a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s seven, and is our sixth Irish-Setter, a high-energy dog. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. abusive or a puppy-mill. [Scarlett was from a failed backyard breeder.] By getting a rescue-dog, we avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't bad. She’s our third rescue.)