STEVEN MONAHAN
Lonely vet struggles through ‘living nightmare’
Steve Monahan, 61, a retired Vietnam veteran, has moved into a one room apartment with his dog Missy. He will have his rent and electricity paid for a year. Monahan’s wife Jane Elizabeth Monahan, 58, died of liver cancer March 3, 2009. After her death he began having major bouts of depression causing him to lose his job at a local movie theater.
UPDATE: The 61-year-old Vietnam veteran, struggling with depression and financial burdens since the death of his wife, was living in a run-down trailer with his 15-year-old Australian shepherd/beagle mix, Missy. Thanks to the generosity of Season to Share donors, he has since moved into a small, but comfortable studio apartment. His rent will be taken care of for a year. He also received a 49CC scooter, a mini-fridge, an array of gift cards and even donations for his canine companion. His nominating agency estimates he has received $10,600 worth of in-kind goods and services.
Nominated by The Council on Aging of Martin County.
By SCOTT EYMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
HOBE SOUND — The photograph on the battered bureau in the unheated trailer shows a handsome middle-aged couple embracing in front of a Christmas tree. They look happy and successful.
The photo is 3 years old.
Today, Steven Monahan doesn’t look anything like that picture. In March 2009, Jane Monahan, a nurse at St. Mary’s Medical Center , died of liver cancer after 22 years of marriage. Steve Monahan hasn’t been the same since.
“I fell apart,” he says. “I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. I doted on her. I cared for her. She didn’t want me to know she was sick. She was always helping people. She did everything for everybody, except herself. She was my life.”
After Jane died, Steve started drinking. He never had a problem with it before, but he made up for lost time. After some months, he woke up and realized he had to stop — it wasn’t the way a 61-year-old veteran with three tours in Vietnam was supposed to act.
By that time, the loss of Jane’s income had put a serious dent in his finances.
For five years, he had been working as an assistant manager of the Regal Cinema in Jensen Beach, not to mention umpiring in various baseball leagues. His ability to function at the movie theater was gradually overwhelmed by grief and depression, and a bad knee made it impossible to umpire.
The job went last October. Then the car went.
He’s waiting for a military pension from the VA, and down the road there will be Social Security, but all that’s a way’s off. He sees a VA psychiatrist, but depression is still a problem.
Today, he’s in arrears on the rundown trailer in Hobe Sound. His only companion is his 15 year-old Australian shepherd/beagle mix Missy.
But he’ll lose Missy if he’s evicted and has to go to the Salvation Army.
He sees his old buddies from Vietnam once a year at an Air Show, but he hasn’t asked for help.
“I don’t want to be a burden to anyone at all. I just want to live my life,” he said. “This is a living nightmare.”
STEVEN’S WISH
Steven Monahan, a 61-year-old Vietnam vet, lost his wife and tumbled into a depression, causing him to lose his job and car. Now lives in a rundown trailer without air conditioning or a refrigerator. His wish is to have a 49CC Scooter, a mini fridge, gas cards and 12 months’ rent ($4,800).
NOMINATED BY
The Council on Aging of Martin County, 1071 E. 10th St., Stuart, FL 34996. (772) 223-7800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (772) 223-7800 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
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