By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
For weeks Kannapolis City Councilman Richard Anderson hadn’t felt good.
A pack-a-day cigarette smoker for most of his 73-years, he’d struggled with increasing breathing problems.
After a series of tests, Anderson and his wife, Miriam, got the terrible news on Oct. 31.
He had lung and liver cancer and it was widespread.
Anderson checked in to CMC-NorthEast in Concord and began chemotherapy ó only after he got a nicotine patch.
Miriam said he understood his situation and was reconciled to it.
But that didn’t stop him from talking city council business. He asked her to bring his list of cell phone numbers and checked in with officials attending a conference in San Antonio, Texas.
He had planned to go to the Kannapolis City Council meeting on Nov. 9, but the doctors and his wife overruled it.
On Friday, Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer visited Anderson and got a message to look out for small businessmen.
Late last week, he was doing well enough that he was scheduled to go home for a few days. They had home care lined up.
Miriam said at one point while waiting for tests results, Anderson joked, “I think I’ll get up and go smoke.”
He got pneumonia and the antibiotics couldn’t stop it.
His condition worsened Saturday night.
They had agreed that no mechanical means would be used to keep him alive.
He was moved to critical care Sunday morning.
“He never spoke after Saturday night,” Miriam said.
Anderson took care of one final item for his wife of 52 years. He planned his funeral.
“He prepared for everything. He was always Mr. Prepared.”
The Anderson family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Whitley’s Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Trinity United Methodist Church,with burial at Carolina Memorial Park.