Man builds Gilbert hospice, then dies in it

It seems fitting the place where Chandler resident Lee Myers closed his eyes for the last time was the hospice center he helped build.

The father, husband and decorated Vietnam veteran quietly slipped from this world at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Lund Family Hospice Home - one day after it opened in Gilbert.

Myers was the first patient admitted and the first one to pass away.

He was 61.

"When I first got here, the night-shift nurse gave me a report, and she said this family has incredible stories and they're going to bring happy tears to you and they really did," said Lynette Pierson, Myers' nurse at the center.

Hospice of the Valley opened the 12-room home on Tuesday on the Mercy Gilbert Medical Center campus, which is just off Val Vista Drive and the Loop 202 Santan Freeway.

Myers, who had battled lung cancer since June, was admitted hours later.

Myers drove a concrete-mixer truck for Rinker Materials Corp. He, along with his stepson Raymond Blaiser,

helped lay the foundation on which the 9,343-square-foot palliative care building was built.

"I talked to the wife, Paula, and at that time the son was in the room and the family friend, and all three of those gentlemen had poured concrete (for) this foundation, so it was pretty incredible hearing that story," Pierson said.

She added Myers was in peace and surrounded by family when he passed away.

"The family was there holding each hand on each side," she said.

Blaiser was one of the family members who was constantly by Myers' side.

"We're best friends, man. That's all I can say is we're best friends," he said shortly before his stepfather passed away Wednesday.

Myers' wife, Paula, said he was a Vietnam veteran and a U.S. Army Green Beret. He served for a little more than 11 years before getting a job as a truck driver.

The couple met at an American Legion in the Valley where Paula worked part time tending bar. Myers was working for Shamrock Farms hauling milk.

"Lee was one of those guys that came in after he came back from a run ... with all the other veterans," she said.

Paula wouldn't date him at first because she had a policy against getting romantically involved with customers.

"It was really crazy because we both really liked each other," she said.

After she quit her job, she saw Myers at a funeral for a mutual friend from the American Legion.

"Lee showed up, and he saw me sitting there, and he came over and sat down, and we've been together since that moment," she said.

Paula said her husband always put her first and told about how days before Myers died, he told a nurse the most important thing to him as he neared his death was to be with his wife.

"Instead of talking about the pain which he was suffering, it was about his wife, and that's the kind of husband that I have," she said shortly before he died. "He was the same kind of father and friend and grandpa. He's just a wonderful human being."

Paula said Myers had a tremendous sense of pride knowing he helped lay the foundation for the hospice he was in.

"He is the very first patient," she said. "There's something in that."