Smith: Of all the people for Ed Poe to run into at Baskin-Robbins

Quasi-retired doc David Charp took keen interest in the story days ago on ? the packed memorial service for Ed Poe, the state fire ranger, World War II combat vet and unrepentant cookie monster.

“I knew Ed Poe as few did,” Charp wrote me in an email. “He was my hero. He and his wife were my patients for 40 years.”

The Santa Rosa physician, who closed his practice nearly five years ago and now volunteers at the Jewish Community Free Clinic, knew of Poe’s service at the horrific invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and his decades as a regional leader of the state fire service.

And Charp saw firsthand how Poe cared for his wife, Lorraine, after she suffered a severe stroke. The doctor said he’s never seen a man show such devotion to his wife.

Charp wrote of Poe, “I took care of some professional athletes and some famous names, but he was the most important man I was ever honored to care for.”

The doc also told a story about the Navy vet and firefighter’s legendary sweet tooth:

One Friday morning years back, Charp cautioned Poe during an office visit that his cholesterol was a bit high.

“We talked about the best foods to eat and the foods to try to cut back,” the doc recalled.

He said his hero Poe “listened intently ... I thought we were in agreement.”

Later that same day, Charp and his wife, Gail, were at Coddingtown Mall with a grandson and decided to treat the child to an ice cream.

The trio walked into Baskin-Robbins and - awkward! - there sat Ed Poe, who hours earlier had agreed to eat better for the sake of his cholesterol.

Before him towered a magnificent bowl of ice cream. It’s easy to imagine how he felt to look up from it and come eye to eye with, of all people, his primary care physician.

Charp recalls that Poe’s mouth opened, but no words came out. At last Poe uttered, “Oh, I was only going to eat a little.”

Then, shoppers three or four stores down might have heard Ed Poe and his doctor laugh. The sweets didn’t keep the mentor to many local firefighters from living to 92.

“I miss him,” wrote his longtime doctor. “I loved him.”

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BOWLED LATELY? If you haven’t, and if you and five pals are free April 22, you will thank me for hooking you up with Strike Against Tooth Decay.

It’s a blast of a tournament that happens at the Windsor Bowling Center and is hosted by the PDI Surgery Center, which treats low-income kids with dental problems.

PDI’s Alicia Alexander says there’s room for two more teams. For details, visit ?pdisurgerycenter.org.

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OZ GRIMES DID on Monday what he’d promised himself to do.

The 87-year-old veteran of both the U.S. Marine Corps and the peace-and-justice movement drank down the lethal solution of pharmaceuticals that he was allowed to obtain legally through the state’s End of Life Option Act.

Two doctors concluded independently that heart disease would end his life within about six months. Grimes told his family, friends and me he was done, he would take no more of the deterioration and dependency.

A daughter, Karen Grimes Schuler, said he died peacefully at 10:23 a.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 or chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.