Death
Pfeiffer spent the rest of her life in Key West with frequent visits to California until her death on October 1, 1951. Her death was first attributed to shock related to her son Gregory's arrest and a subsequent phone call from Ernest that same day. Gregory had been arrested earlier in that day as a male who was caught entering a woman's restroom in a theater. Years later, Gregory became a medical doctor and interpreted the autopsy report and claimed that Pauline died due to a pheochromocytoma tumor on her adrenal gland. His theory was that the phone call from Ernest caused the tumor to secrete excessive adrenalin and then stop. The resultant change in blood pressure caused the shock that killed her.
Read more about this topic: Pauline Pfeiffer
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Nor has his death the world deceiv’d
Less than his wondrous life surpriz’d;
For if he like a madman liv’d
At least he like a wise one dy’d.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“This morning men deliver wounds and death.
They will deliver death and wounds tomorrow.
And I doubt all. You. Or a violet.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?”
—Socrates (469–399 B.C.)