Their Dying Wishes

by Ann Neumann:
I met Mr. C. because he was dying and his wife needed someone to sit with him Saturday nights while she attended Mass. I was a relatively new hospice volunteer, not long out of training, and Mr. C. was my first assignment with a patient at home, rather than in a hospital or health care facility...

Their Dying Wishes is a moving piece by a hospice volunteer.  It's part of a series in the NY Times called "The End" that "features essays by people who work in fields dealing with death and dying, like medicine, ethics and religion, as well as personal essays by those who have experienced the death of a loved one."