Day is Ending: a doctor's love shattered by Alzheimer's disease

by Richard Zalar, Walter G. Meyer, John Bayley (Introduction)

Overview

Often compared to "The Notebook," Day Is Ending is the true story of Dr. Richard Zalar’s long love affair with his wife, Trude, starting when he was a student and in the army during World War II, through their happy marriage, and up to her tragic slow death from Alzheimer’s disease. This love story which ends so sadly is sort of an American version of Elegy for Iris, by John Bayley, which was made into the award-winning movie, Iris. Professor Bayley was good enough to write the forward to Day Is Ending.

After Trude was too ill to be able to communicate, Dr. Zalar found a box in which she had saved all 347 of the love letters they had exchanged during their courtship. The book starts out with some of these letters and the ups and downs of their relationship until they got married in 1944. It then covers their life as a typical post-war couple in suburbia with two children, the doctor practicing medicine and the wife home taking care of the house and kids.

When the children were grown and married, like many couples the Zalars planned to retire to a life of travel and leisure, but before this could happen Trude starting having problems. First forgetting names and dates. Then she lost a valuable ring—or thought she had, but it was in her jewelry box all along. Then she lost her car. Tests at the Mayo Clinic confirmed what the doctor feared: Alzheimer's disease. He then did retire, but not to a life of playing golf and gardening, but to devoting himself to her care.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012439048
Publisher:	C & W Press
Publication date:	03/11/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	325
File size:	291 KB

About the Author

Dr. Zalar became somewhat of a local celebrity in the Joliet area with stories written in the Chicago Tribune and other papers about the way he devoted his life to his wife’s care after she became ill. After Trude’s death, Dr. Zalar devoted himself to fighting Alzheimer's disease anyway he can. His son said that since Dr. Zalar failed to preserve her life he seems determined to preserve her memory. Dr. Zalar himself died in 2009.

Co-author Walter G. Meyer had previously written "Going for the Green: selling in the 21st Century" before being engaged by Dr. Zalar to tell his heart-breaking story. After writing the book, Meyer wrote a screenplay based on the book; it has been optioned to be a television movie. Meyer's next book, "Rounding Third," is a novel set on a high school baseball team in Ohio was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, was a finalist for a San Diego Book Award and received a great deal of media attention because it deals with the timely topic of teens being bullied until one of them can't take it any more and attempts suicide. Meyer has also written for dozens of newspapers and magazines and a play which he co-wrote, GAM3RS, has been performed at the New York International Fringe Festival, at theaters throughout the US and at colleges from MIT to UCSD.

Editorial Reviews

There are two things that may feel familiar to readers of Day is Ending by Richard Zalar <with Walter G. Meyer> The first are the themes of love and loss that are intricately woven throughout his touching story about his wife's journey with Alzheimer's disease and his own fierce struggle to care for her...but the book is more than a tale of loss. It is also a tale of strength and commitment...such love and commitment is a force that denies Alzheimer's final word.

John Maeglin